Matters of Trust
by Aura
Summary: Sand/OC. Set after the events of the main campaign. Sand is accused and set on trial for the murder of Qara during the final battle with the Lord of Shadows. His assigned representation isn't quite what he expected...
1. Never A Philanthropist

**Chapter One: _Never A Philanthropist _**

_"The chief lesson I have learned in a long life is that the only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him; and the surest way to make him un-trustworthy is to distrust him and show your distrust."_

**-Henry L. Stimson**

"Sir Nevalle, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Sand drawled as he eyed the knight entering his shop.

"Sand Violeigh. You are under arrest for the murder of Qara Malyguard. You will be allowed a few minutes to collect yourself and lock up your store. There is a platoon of men outside that will escort you to your cell in the Royal Prison." The human was all business despite the accusations he was tossing so easily the wizard's way.

The announcement had been the last thing the moon elf expected when one of the King's personal guard entered minutes after he'd unlocked his door for the morning. Starting at the human from his place behind the counter as if the knight had grown an extra head, or two.

"-_Do-_ tell me this is your ill placed attempt at a joke." He managed after a moment to adjust to the allegations. His tone remained carefully neutral but the way his eyes had tightened showed his displeasure easily to those more familiar with the moon elf.

It apparently wasn't enough for Neverwinter that he had been with the group that defeated the Lord of Shadows; and with him the many threats the creature had posed. Or, that the members they did lose in the final battle were in part the fault of the worthless woman he was being hassled for.

"I'm afraid not Sand. Her father is causing quite the ruckus at the courts as well as the Academy." The Knight explained calmly with a small shrug. "Given the history that you and Qara have there are many of the council that seem convinced of the tales he is spinning. With the lack of survivors, and therefore witnesses, to the woman's death the laws are cloudy on this matter. I left the men sent to escort you outside, I wished to break the news myself."

"Your consideration for my well being is fortuitous." He quipped sarcastically, his lips already drawn into a scowl. "What of the others that did survive? Elanee, Khelgar, the tiefling?"  
"Khelgar and Neeshka are both in custody. The dwarf is being transferred from his station at Crossroad Keep and the tiefling is already in prison." The knight replied dutifully. "We have been unable to contact the druid. I don't agree with this but my hands are tied."

"You mean anything that keep the King's hands un soiled of course." the moon elf observed distastefully. Running his hands along the back of the counter as a way to distract himself from his own frustration. "You are both well aware that she turned on the shard bearer and we were given no choice but to fight her."

"Sand..."

`"Don't Nevalle." the moon elf interrupted, outright rudeness wasn't commonly his way but he wasn't used to being unjustly imprisoned either. "I am aware of when I'm being used. You need not patronize me with counterfeit sympathy. If you'll wait outside my establishment I will settle things and join you momentarily."

He ignored the heated glare the knight was offering him and moved into the stockroom to begin checking the locks on windows and doors. He had no intention of rushing the safety of his shop or it's order while he was being forced to play along with this farce.

Generally he didn't mind the law, it had offered him much protection over his years. Though the politics that hounded any court often turned any appropriate rules into bothersome and archaic fights over the meaning of exact words and statements. Some could interpret Qara's death as murder, she was killed for her choice to side with the Lord of Shadows and stand against all of Neverwinter. However, it was no different than the death of any wretched traitor.

His views of essentiality in the law would always differ from those of the nobility. Those changes of opinion are why he failed to get along with Nevalle or any of the other lap dogs of the king.

"Excuse me?! Mister Sand?!" He didn't recognize the female voice interrupting his mental tirade by calling for him across the building. He assumed it was one of the guards sent inside to rush him.

"You can inform Nevalle that he'll simply have to be patient." Sand called back. "_"""It wasn't as if I had a plan in place for being wrongfully jailed."_

"You misunderstand, I'm not here to hurry you along." The voice paused when the woman speaking came into the back area and then readjusted from yelling to speaking accordingly. "I am here to represent you against Archmage Malygaurd."

Sand resisted the urge to teleport away from all of this and start anew somewhere else. It would have only been giving the bastards at the Academy what they wanted. He managed to keep his tone mostly neutral as he replied. "I do not require representation."

"You are as withering as I've heard." The woman seemed to fail at understanding she was being dismissed.

After finishing the activation of his wards on his back door he turned to consider whatever dolt they'd sent to further exasperate the situation he was facing.

Mismatched blue and silver eyes watched him in return as he eyed the woman over. Pointed ears poked from strands of midnight blue hair, which would have been prettier if it wasn't pulled tightly away from her face and shoulders. Her face was elven in nature but her features were softer than usual for any race of elves he'd come across. She was a petite thing, barely over five feet and likely not weighing more than eighty pounds with her gear on. Her skin was pale even for a member of the _people, _an unblemished milky white that made her seem like an ivory statue that had stepped down from it's pedestal. She wore a set of robes crafted to easily double as a dress when she took off the outer coat of sorts. Teal and silver made it a match of colors that marked her as somehow related to working for the King of Neverwinter.

"As I previously stated." Sand repeated, unconcerned with the girl's unique appearance. "I do not require someone to speak for me."

"You aren't allowed to speak for yourself in this case." She pressed despite his further protest with a dismissive shrug. "Archmage Malyguard has expressed that he believes if you were allowed to freely meet him that he would be the next to disappear."

"What nonsense is this?" The latest addition to a day of poor news. His composure was steadily declining. "The king agrees that I'm enough of a danger that I cannot even speak for myself?"

"You are powerful enough to be considered a archmage yourself Sand, you shouldn't be surprised that Malyguard would evoke the right of protection." The girl was measuring him over, taking mental notes of his reactions and words. "He has been banned from coming to the courts as well until the trial is completed. I argued that if you were such a dangerous individual bent on revenge that he was himself a archmage and given his belief in your involvement with the death of Qara he had more reason for such feelings."

"Is that suppose to be an effort to reassure me? He has the whole of the academy to fall back on and I've been sent a greenhorn girl likely not out of her second season of study. Forgive my misgivings as to the state of affairs that I'm left with." He commented in frustration, the scowl was back in an instant. "If you'll excuse me, I need to finish locking up so that I can be paraded over to my cage."

She stepped in his path when he went to move by her and go upstairs. Her expression was mostly serene but there was a underlying ire behind her eyes. "I _had_ _heard_ that you were wise enough to keep your emotions from getting the better of you. Don't be so quick to presume anything about me. I am here with the intention of saving you from that lot of fools at the academy so perhaps it would be in your best interest not to start tossing insults before you've so much as asked my name."

He paused as she moved into his way and schooled his own face into his usual neutral expression, his tone becoming dry with his next question. "What is the inspiration of this show of charity then? I don't believe that you are simply a philanthropist that happened to wander by in my time of need."

"My uncle asked me to step in and do what I could to aid you and the other accused." She took a step back and out of his way when he didn't appear as if he'd let up at all himself. Apparently uncomfortable with close contact.

Sand didn't move when she did, instead waiting to see if she'd finish her explanation as opposed to him needing to drag it out of her.

"I am Sana Natal Alagondar." Her bluster faded some as she said her name and the last part was soft-spoken enough that if he didn't have sharp ears he likely would have missed it completely.

"Wait." Sand paused as he added it up, his brain quicker than most but he still wasn't immune to being shocked, and today seemed to have it's fair share of surprises. "-_You-_ are the King's niece?"

**End Chapter **


	2. A Straw to Grasp

**Chapter Two: _A Straw to Grasp_**

_"''People who have given us their complete confidence believe that they have a right to ours. The inference is false, a gift confers no rights."''_

**-Friedrich Nietzsche**

"It is an informal title, he and my father traveled together some years ago as adventurers." She explained in the low voice she had taken when she said her name. "Circumstances lead his sister to take me in after misfortune befell my father. It was just before my first century and amongst our kind that is still too young to stand on our own. That was nearly forty years ago."

She still seemed young but such things were always misleading when it came to members of the _people_. He had heard of the King's sister, a lady in the city of Waterdeep, passing away in recent days. There had been a day of grieving that the city observed the week before in honor of her death. _"This girl must have been sent here after her mother's passing."_

"I am familiar with Neverwinter law." She continued, changing the subject of her history back to the matter at hand. "I have been studying for years in hopes of attaining a council seat once I finished my own years at the Academy."

"Meaning, you have yet to even begin your official studies." Sand observed, he was careful to keep his tone neutral despite the annoyance bleeding beneath the ruse he put forth. _"They might as well ask me to start sharpening the executioner blade myself."_

"I wasn't allowed to attend the Academy here in the Blacklake district. That doesn't mean I have failed to study." She bristled a little at his continued mockery, her soft-spoken tone disappearing. "I simply haven't undergone the final exams. You..."

"Sand. Stop taking your time and..." She broke off as Nevalle came into the back room, the human knight blinking and then bowing toward the woman as he saw her. "Lady Sana. How did you...I mean...I didn't realize that you still needed time to speak with the accused."

"Please stand up, I chose a poor time to come." The lady's voice immediately returned to a courtly level and she offered a faint smile. "Do not blame Mister Sand, I interrupted his pursuit of getting things in order. Please allow him the time he needs to get things together."

"Of course Lady Sana. Will you require an escort back to the castle?" The knight stood from the bow but remained perfectly humble to the woman he considered a higher rank.

"I will manage on my own, thank you Sir Nevalle." She curtsied lightly as a way of polite dismissal and moved away from the pair of men. Sand's scowl had returned as he watched the debacle of courtly behavior taking place in his stockroom.

"This is all just wonderful..." The moon elf muttered lowly, he didn't even pause to give the knight a remark as he continued up his stairs. More concerned with the safety of his building than insulting the nobility. He didn't draw out his security measures too much longer than was needed. Gathering some supplies and necessities in his magical backpack before moving outside to join the group of guards waiting for him.

At least there weren't too many people on the streets to stop and gape at his demeaning march to the Royal prison; a separate set of quarters in the palace's confines for anyone of station to enjoy a nicer cell in which to wait for trial. It was better than some of the alternatives but that small alleviation did little to better the wizard's mood, even more so when he found he was sharing quarters with the tiefling that the shard-bearer had insisted on keeping around.

"Oh hey, I was wondering when they would bring you by. Some girl said you'd be showing up." Neeshka said cheerfully, seated at a table full of various foods and with a bit of each on her plate to test out. "Guess they're hauling Khelgar over from the keep too. But look at this setup...I've never been in a prison like this before! I gotta screw up and get caught more often if they're gonna pamper me like this."

"Your delighted attitude over our respectively poor positioning is faith inspiring." He returned bitingly, settling his pack down and seating himself at the table. He was hungry and despite the annoyance the tiefling offered he wouldn't hide away.

"No point crying over spilled potions." She shrugged, shoving a mouthful of meat into her mouth and speaking as she chewed. "Sides' didnagurlsayeedbahine."

"Try again without spitting your meal all over the table." It was a battle to keep from scowling at her.

Neeshka took a long drink from her glass and repeated herself. "Besides. Didn't the girl say that we'd be fine? She told me it was more Qara's loser father grasping at straws than anything that could be taken seriously."

"While it is a bit of a reach for him to accuse us of her murder." He agreed with a cutting edge to his words. "We _-are-_ in prison for it...however well decorated the bars might be, that fact doesn't change. The reality is that the possibility of our guilt is already being considered in the courts."

"Eh, I'm fine anyway." Neeshka commented while still eating, not seeming to notice or care that she was still spewing bits of food in front of her. "I wasn't the one that had an it out for her all the time. Not that I cared for her much, but you hated her. If anyone is being considered as guilty for killing her, it's completely you."

He didn't get a chance to reply to the demon blooded girl before Sana walked into the room with them and spoke herself. "She's right you know. She and the dwarf are likely just an excuse to get at you. Your dislike of Qara is well known on the streets of Neverwinter. Even your companion stated that you and she fought often in your travels."

_''Once a traitor...always a traitor..."_ He thought toward the clueless tiefling still stuffing her face but instead of saying anything turned and considered the not-so completely elf that had joined them. "I won't argue the authenticity of the matter. I had no love for the treasonous simpleton. Though it is also well known that I tolerated her presence as one of the shard bearers travel companions even if I didn't agree with it. I didn't raise a hand to her until she turned her back on us and chose to join the Lord of Shadows."

"Yeah, thats true too." Neeshka piped in, apparently trying to help but otherwise oblivious to much outside her lovely meal. "Casavir used to call Sand the 'voice of reason', where Khelgar and I thought of him more like the 'voice of griping about everyone else'."

'_"It really -is- a pity she grabbed on while I was casting that teleport spell.''_ Sand reflected to himself idly.

"Your actions in protecting the people of Neverwinter and aiding in the destruction of the Lord of Shadows will be large details to push on the council in your favor." Sana commented as she finally moved from the door and joined them at the table. "If there is more I should know however, now would be the time to tell me. Sir Nevalle hinted that you had a history with the members of the Academy, Qara's father in particular. Could you let me speak with Mister Sand alone please?"

"What? I wanna know what happened..." Neeshka broke off at the neutral stares they were both giving her. "Fine, whatever, I'll go check out the bath then. Sheesh. Secretive elf sorts..."

"You had some...colorful companions in your travels." Sana observed once Neeshka had left the area. Watching the wizard who was her largest challenge to defend.

"Mmm yes." He agreed with the statement. "Though colorful is a much kinder description than I would have chosen."

She reached into her own bags, withdrawing a folded piece of parchment as well as ink and a quill. "That still leaves us at the question of your history with the father of the woman you are accused of murdering."

"Qara's father was the reason I was removed as one of the instructors at the Academy, it is not as common knowledge as it once was years ago but most of the instructors are aware of what occurred." Sand explained, watching the elvish creature that was suppose to be representing him as he spoke. It wasn't his favorite topic but he was well aware that his fate wasn't in his hands any longer. "At the time he was one of the upper class men. When I graded his final at less than perfect, it was a deserved mark. He attempted to get me to change my mind so he would be able to be in the top percentile of his class at graduation. When I told him that I would not rethink the grade he'd been given he told the council that I had been threatening both he and other members of his class."

"We're you?" She asked, direct for certain but she needed to know everything she could.

"No." A calculating smile tugged at the edge of Sand's face as he shook his head negatively. "I remain a believer of results in those I teach, if someone fails to produce them I will not hesitate to let them know my disappointment."

"Do you think that your attitude could have been misunderstood as threatening?" Sana smiled a little at the words he chose to use, amused at his coarse personality.

"Anything is possible, killing a traitor in self-defense is seen as murder by some. Highly un-probable would be a better description. There are those among the teachers at the Academy far more heavy handed than I ever was." He answered honestly, finally relaxing enough to eye the food at the table as he spoke. Picking out things that appealed to his pallet. "Once my background was dug into and it was discovered that I worked for a period with the host-tower my ethical nature was called further into question. It was eventually decided that the Academy was unable to trust someone with my credentials."

She took a note here or there in his explanation onto the parchment she'd produced, tapping the edge of the page as she contemplated what she knew so far. "Did Qara ever bring up those events or rub them in?"

"Gloating about my misfortune would have required her being aware of it. None of the adventurers that traveled with the shard bearer knew of my true history with the Academy." Sand responded with a shrug. "My issues with Qara were never a direct result of her father. She was short tempered and even more short sighted, with no ability to consider the others around her up to the very end. Perhaps he could be blamed indirectly for raising such a contemptible creature but his lack of parenting skill won't create much of an argument."

"You really are a miserable man aren't you Sand?" Sana laughed at his words, shaking her head a bit in a show that the question was rhetorical. Writing a couple more notes on her parchment. "I am looking forward to your chance at taking the stand. The speaker for Malygaurd doesn't have a chance in hell."

He raised a brow at her backwards compliment, putting a grape in his mouth as he waited for any other questions she'd have for him. He would be the last to argue that his biting wit was a force to be reckoned with.

"Is there someone you can think of that would speak against Malyguard or admit to the lies that he used to get you removed from your position at the Academy?" She glanced back up from her notes.

_''Well now, she does get straight to the heart of things." Perhaps I have a chance after all.'' _Sand found himself considering her mismatched eyes more curiously. _"Celestial blood perhaps?"_

"There are few that are still in this area that were involved." Sand answered. "Though I believe a couple years back he removed Lady Anya Heston from her own position at the school. She was one of the students involved in my being overthrown. As to if she holds enough loathing for Malygaurd to admit to what occurred I couldn't tell you. I never cared for her much more than Qara or her father, she has the same self-serving attitude that many sorcerer's retain."

"You do have a bias against non wizard casters then?" The question was one that was bound to come up sooner or later, he had been waiting for it.

"My distaste for _-natural-_ magic users as they are often referred is well earned." His inflection and the way his lip dipped into a sneer spoke volumes more as to his feelings than his words. "I would not say I have an aversion to all of their member, just all of the ones I've had the displeasure to meet personally."

She blinked at him a couple times at that reply before she realized she was staring and spoke again. "Your disposition toward sorcerer's is going to be a major piece of their testimony. That you used the situation of battle as an excuse to kill one of the people you so seem to despise."

"I imagine they are going to grasp at every possible excuse they can, however far fetched it may be." Sand returned with a small lift of his shoulders. "To attempt to evade my previous confession of aversion toward sorcerers would only add to their ammunition of things to employ against me."

"Right." The girl was back to being somewhat withdrawn with her words, though she was eyeing her parchment so intently that it was easy to assume she was distracted by her own thoughts. "I think then I will return after I've had a chance to seek out this Lady Heston."

She was away from the table before he could offer so much as a wave and the door was closing behind her.

"Wow, you really got shafted by Qara's father like that?" The return of the tiefling showed her usual lack of tact.

Sand sighed to himself and put another grape in his mouth without answering. Perhaps she would leave him alone if he ignored her.

**End Chapter**

_Oh poor Sand, like ignoring Neeshka would get her to to shut up. I do love the elven wizard though._

_-Aura_

To my reviewers:

_Purple Crow_ - Thank you, I have a tendancy to ponder small details which isn't at all useful in the real world :) Heh. I hope you continue to enjoy the story as it unfolds.


	3. Painter of Words

**Chapter Three:**_**Painter of Words**_

_''To sit patiently with a yearning that has not yet been fulfilled, and to trust that, that fulfillment will come, is quite possibly one of the most powerful '"magic skills" that human beings are capable of. It has been noted by almost every ancient wisdom tradition.''_

_**-Elizabeth Gilbert**_

"Lady Sana, it seems unwise to delve deeper than needed for the trial." Nevalle was frowning at the young woman that had come to his office. It was his job to keep an eye on what was considered the noble family. Her poking her nose into things deeper than necessary would put a target on her back. "Whatever happened years ago when Sand was removed from office has no bearing as to the current issues being faced."

"You know as well as I do how hollow that sounds." Sana frowned at the knight before she turned to eye the courtyard below his office's window. With the tree's budding from the spring season it was a picturesque distraction from the problems that plagued her new assignment. "If this man has been permitted to unjustly effect Sand in the past and gotten away with it. Then it has complete bearing as to if he feels he'll get away with such behavior now. Not to mention that calling his own history into question would be a great aid for my case."

"I don't mean to question your ability to do what has been asked of you. The whole reason the King agreed to go through with this trial was to keep things moving smoothly." The knight was still frowning, trying to discourage the girl from poking too far. "Not to steal your words but you know as well as I do that the King will never allow harm to come to one of the group that defeated the Lord of Shadows."

"What of the fact that he was unjustly removed from his position at the Academy in the first place?" Sana glanced back to the knight, matching his troubled expression. Though the reasons for their agitated frowns differed. "Is this Neverwinter's justice? To look the other way when it will cause fewer waves?"

"Lady Sana." It was almost a gasp of disgust at the allegation. "The law had it's say those many years ago. It is not our place to question that which has already been. Even you must realize that a man like that would not have lasted at the Academy or in the court. He doesn't know how to deal with people."

"Of course it is our place to question." Her eyebrows came down as she narrowed her eyes at the knight. "Justice isn't reached through hope and inaction. You above anyone should _-know-_ that as a knight. You are sworn to protect all those that would be citizens of this city, weather you agree with their personalities or otherwise. Unc...King Nasher assigned me to his defense and I will do everything in my power to see him acquitted. To include speaking with this Lady Heston. I expect an escort to be prepared for me within the hour, I'll be waiting in the library until then."

She barked the orders as calmly as possible, more so than she expected herself to sound after the disheartening argument. Taking her leave from the room to sweep toward the library, she still had much she felt she needed to go over before she would feel comfortable in her position.

_"The nerve of that fellow. As if I'd back down from my duties. Even if Sand is a disagreeable and abrupt man I will not allow any personal views to interfere with my job as his defender in trial."_ She was in a poor mood. _"This is the Neverwinter justice my mother always spoke of? I guess fairy tales do fall very short of the truth."_

_**Elsewhere...**_

Neeshka was continuing to speak -at- Sand as he ate. Chattering seemingly for no other reason than to hear herself talk. Once she'd realized he wouldn't be speaking of his history to her she had gone on to talk about her own less than quaint upbringing. Though no one topic stuck with her for longer than a sentence or two before her short attention span hopped to a different matter all together.

He was starting to miss the other members of the adventuring party, just out of a wish that he could pawn her off on anyone else. While she started to talk about a heist involving a gelatinous cube and the loss of a former partner in crime Sand instead settled his mind to go over the details of what would likely be being brought against him.

Even if he was unable to represent himself, the girl seemed logical enough and he might be able to talk some reason into her. He doubted he would face any sort of permanent imprisonment even if she had been a trained monkey, the king wasn't so foolish as to allow Malygaurd to get away with this. It was still a bother in the meantime, and he hadn't even been allowed to leave a copy of himself to continue to gain an income. _''"If they say a word come tax day they might end up with an actual murder on their hands."_

"So yeah...it was probably a really unpleasant way to die. I'm glad he went down in that pit instead of me." The tiefling nodded as she finished her tale. "God, what's wrong with you anyway. Usually you at least tell me to shut up or get lost or go get hit by a fireball or something!"

The small glance she got was enough to know he was listening at least and she started talking about another lost partner of hers.

Eventually his mind turned back to the woman who held the ability to help or hinder their case. With little else to peruse he was left considering what sort of blood gave her the more unique of her features. Celestial heritage seemed an option thanks to the silver eye, but the dark hair made that less likely of a possibility.

"I wonder what that woman is anyway. Sana. She's sorta creepy looking." Neeshka had a way of finding the right topic from time to time. "She reminds me of those people that we saw in the crypts. The ones all obsessed with death and zombies. But without the black clothes...weird hobbies kids have these days to escape from their parents, we just de-faced the local churches in my day..."

Then losing it, she continued her story by talking about putting graffiti on the church of Tyr in her hometown and leaving a few of the boys to take the rap for her.

_''It's amazing that the shard bearer made it to the Lord of Shadows...""'' _Sand thought at growing theme of her tales. _""''Though she has a point in her own way, perhaps Sana's father had a love for necromancy that she didn't mention. I've heard some disturbing stories as to the sort of children people with a like for that school of magic end up with." An undead background of some kind could explain it, a lich perhaps?"_

"What the hell you goin' on about now ye watered down demon rat?" The dwarfs voice announced him before his small legs waddling into the common area of their shared quarters would. "What'd you do now to get us dragged into this?"

"Hey, why do you always assume it's me?" Neeshka protested with a mockingly hurt expression on her face.

"If the shoe fits." Khelgar shrugged at her, glancing to Sand. "They ain't pulling Elanee in with the rest of us? She was there too."

"They have been unable to make contact with her to the best of my knowledge." Sand answered for the dwarf.

"It's _-not-_ my fault." Neeshka failed to change the subject for the first time that day, pointing at the elven wizard and waving her hand wildly. "_-He's-_ the one they're really after. Just cause he hated Qara and her dad's having a fit we got dragged in too. Not that I'm complaining too much I guess...best food I've had in ages."

Khelgar frowned as he listened to the tiefling go on. Snorting at her random behavior. "Ye're startin to sound like that fool Grobnar. Next thing you'll start claiming to have seen the Wendersnaven. You dun think that Nasher's gonna go through with all this foolishness do you?"

"Difficult to say." Sand replied with a small lift of his shoulders. "He did bring us all in. Though I believe that you and Neeshka have little to worry about. I was the one that fought Qara in the final battle."

"Well yeah, duh." Khelgar stated as he pulled a chair out for himself. "None o' the rest of us coulda fought against her magic. Who the hell they think was gonna fight her? Deekin? Bunch a morons."

As rare as the occasion was, Sand had to admit that Khelgar's presence wasn't so horrible at the moment.

"Don't worry Sand, we won't let them jail you." Neeshka smiled at him and took some more food from the table. "Again, not that this is bad at all. I should see if they'll just let me live here."

"That'd be the worst use of tax money, ever." Khelgar laughed. "Didn't think we'd meet again this way. Well I suppose Neeshka being in jail isn't a surprise. At least Elanee kept herself free of the nonsense."

"The only thing to be said of living in the middle of a swamp and ignoring the finer things in life. It makes one difficult to wrongfully imprison." Sand observed with his usual dryness. "Have you spoken with Sana yet?"

"Who's Sana?" The dwarf asked in return, answering Sand's question without meaning to.

"She's this weird fetish girl like the ones we saw at the crypts in the Blacklake district." Neeshka piped in with a nod. "She's suppose to be speaking for us at the trial."

"Why can't Sand do it? I thought that was the one thing he was good for other than tossing spells." Khelgar commented.

''_"So much for him redeeming his presence."'' _Sand thought in reply.

"Qara's dad is afraid of him so someone else has to go." Nesshka made the explanations a lot shorter than they may have ended up otherwise.

"Great, so they give us some fool kid?" Khelgar scowled, his beard's whiskers delving into deeper lines of his face. "This place is just a piece of work. There's enough work to be done over at the Keep already without pulling me over here cause of this. What a waste of time."

_**Meanwhile...**_

"So, you want me to speak on that old fools behalf?" The laugh that Sana was receiving from the Lady Heston wasn't making her own day any brighter. "Why on earth would I do that? You do know his name is well earned? He rubs _-everyone-_ the wrong way."

"I am not asking you to speak on Sand's behalf." Sana replied, leaning back on the stuffed couch in the pretty sitting room where the Lady had agreed to meet her. Even if she had been removed from her position at the Academy she seemed she was doing well for herself. The house was expensive and well furnished with the latest fashions of the Blacklake nobility.

"And what do you want then? Rumors move more quickly than magic in this town." Anya replied with a sly smile. "It won't look well on me if you linger in my home for too long a period."

"I want you to speak against Archmage Malygaurd." Sana answered directly, noting the responses of the woman she was asking for help. "What he did to you when you were removed from office is amongst those rumors."

The Lady Heston was once a pretty young woman, but her youth was fading now and gray hair was seeping it's way into once blonde locks even as wrinkles had begun to edge into her face. Where she might have once favored more revealing gowns they had been replaced by the covering robes of her mage craft. Though she carried herself with the grace that one would expect from years of being a noble at the courts and an academy official her lips tightened at the reminder of the insult she'd endured.

"Here I thought he would have been wise enough to keep things to himself." She commented, measuring the younger girl questioning her. "What would you have me say against him? My fate was already decided."

"Much as Sand's once was decade's ago." Sana said simply, raising a hand in a small shrug. "If his history was mentioned and a habit of these judgments were put into light, then he would find himself hard pressed to keep his own position."

There was a long moment of silence, more mental weighting seemed to be taking place. "Even _-if-_ Malygaurd lost his position, it would do nothing to help me in the return of mine. I don't know what you mean as far as Sand's position is concerned. I was only a student when he lost his career for the threatening of myself and others. It's been a very long time sense such things were discussed and I figure they should remain that way."

"It's a pity you feel that way Lady Heston." Sana knew it was a long shot when she'd decided to come, but it was something she had to try or she wouldn't have been able to rest without kicking herself. "I won't keep your company any longer. We wouldn't want anyone else in the city to get the wrong idea."

"Of course not." Anya offered her a small smile in return. "No one in the city wants to be at the mercy of those that would spread rumors. Keep yourself well protected Lady Sana, it would be a pity for the royal family to lose another member to foolish actions."

Sana didn't bother to offer a reply to the not so veiled threat, she already knew that she would be a target when she'd set out to clear Sand's name as the King had requested. She just hadn't realized just how corrupt Neverwinter really was, there was almost no difference to the indecency of the people compared to Waterdeep. Just less direct secrecy than the Lord's there. She didn't doubt that the King and Nevalle wanted to do the right thing, but it seemed like they just more often than not, failed.

_"Not that I don't require a thin line to walk myself."_ She thought with a sigh as she began her walk back to the palace. _"If any of them were to learn with certainty my ancestry then I would likely be worse off than this Sand."_

She smiled a little. The dour wizard made her own life seem like flowers and dances in comparison. His biting wit was a rare thing for her to come across, however sarcastic he might often be she fancied him likely a good conversationalist. _"''Not that he likely cares to speak to anyone except to offer piercing retorts."_

"Lady Sana." It was Sir Nevalle.

_''At least Sands not as hypocritical as the rest of this city seems to be."''_

She offered a courtly smile despite her thoughts. "What can I do for you?"

"I am on my way to attend some business with the city guard but I thought you might wish to know that the last of the accused arrived about twenty minutes ago." Nevalle explained, gesturing the troops with him ahead of him. "How did you visit go?"

"Much as expected the Lady Heston knew nothing of that I was speaking of." She answered with a small sigh. "Thank you for the help Sir Nevalle, good luck on your business."

She moved passed him without waiting for anything else, she didn't want to deal with any form of 'I told you so', she wouldn't do her clients any good if she got put in prison herself for attacking a member of the Nine. Instead she paused to spy on the three as they spoke in their quarters...

"I tell ya. This stinks worse than a inn full o' brawlers with a stomach bug." Khelgar's complaints were growing the more ale he put in his stomach. Though his commentary was saving Sand the trouble of needing to speak. "I dun hafta be no politician to know this is some poor lie or some such."

"Better shadup." Neeshka was failing to match the dwarf glass for glass, but she was certainly doing her best to try. "Sides, I ain't see you turning down the ale they keep bringing you. I tell you, it could be a hell of a lot worse. You ever even seen the inside of a real prison?"

"Some of us don't try to pick up anything that ain't nailed down." He snorted at her, squinting over the top of his cup. "The Ironfist ain't never done nothing worthy of being jailed cept maybe let a common room brawl get a bit out of hand now and then."

Before the tiefling could form her reply Sana stepped into the room, surprised that Sand was weathering it all with such an indifferent reaction. "Excuse me. I will need to speak with you both tomorrow afternoon, it seems you are a bi...er you are having such a good time I wouldn't want to interrupt you. Sand, could we speak a little more as to the case?"

"The guard isn't going to come running to tackle me and toss me back in amongst the inebriated buffoons?" He asked, a bit wary as to just how far this imprisonment reached.

"Hey." Neeshka frowned. "He just called us stupid."

"No." Sana blinked a bit at the group as she answered. "You are allowed to be escorted anywhere on the grounds at this time. I can function as your escort in this instance."

Sand got up, apparently accepting the invitation given he was already walking toward the door.

"Stupid. Speak for yourself imp girl." Khelgar taunted before taking another long drink of his ale. Sand was quickly forgotten and the two continued to bicker as he walked away down the hall with Sana.

"Doesn't that bother you?" She asked, she had to admit she was curious as to the people that had supposedly saved the land from a great evil.

"The longer one is forced to spend time in the company of such buffoons the sooner one comes to learn how to ignore their deplorable behavior." Sand offered her a light shrug, slowing to match the easy pace she had taken once they'd gotten a few halls away from the pair. "My former companions cannot be that compelling. What else did you want to ask me?"

"Well." She sighed a little, knowing she was going to get more insults. "I more wanted to ask you for advice. Anya denied any involvement with your removal from office years ago. I don't think that King Nasher would leave you in prison regardless of what Malygaurd's representation brings forward but neither do I simply want to sit by and do nothing."

"Outside of my companions and myself no one survived the battle other than Elanee, who has put herself beyond reach. Sir Nevalle, instrument that he is, would speak well of me if honestly asked in court. Witnesses are what both cases will be made on. That old drunkard Duncan would speak for me as well if you asked him too."

"The issue becomes that no one that speaks for you seems to actually like you very much." Sana pointed out, opening the doors that would take them into the gardens. She needed the fresh air and enjoying a bit of nature this time of year would help ease her busy mind. "Something that could be detrimental."

"It doesn't matter if they like me or not, it matters what they believe I would do in the situation as it was posed." Sand answered. "As poor as some consider my personality, none of them would believe me a murderer."

"I suppose so." Sana nodded a little, sighing to herself. She seemed honestly concerned as to his fate.

_"A surprisingly touching sentiment..." _he thought to himself as he watched the girl. "You said yourself it is something that the King won't abide by. I am more nuisanced by being left here with Khelgar and Neeshka as company than I am by the thought that these wild allegations would do anything more permanent. My fate seems to bother you more than it does anyone else, including myself."

"I disagree with the pretense of the whole thing." She explained, settling on a bench beneath one of the blooming fruit trees, it's gentle white and pink flowers next to apples that were just beginning to grow. "Here my mother raised me on tales of how just the city of Neverwinter was and I come here to find myself tossed into a city no better than the one I left."

She paused as she realized she was talking more than she should about herself. "But I'm sure you don't really care about that sort of thing. I just wanted you to know that I'm going to do what I can to see this righted as soon as possible and that I would listen to any suggestions you had as to my defense."

_"''The shard bearer would have greatly liked this one, she has the same selfless views he did.''"_ Sand thought as he watched her wring her hands nervously and go to watching the petals on the grass. His reply wasn't as biting as it might have been toward someone else. "I appreciate that some youths are still capable of listening to those that are more experienced than they. Though I've given the suggestions that I can give. I figure it isn't a good idea for me to sit in when you question others and possibly sway whatever they have to say about me by being there."

"I have a feeling most people would say whatever they had to anyway where you are concerned." Sana smiled a bit at him. "You seem good at invoking honesty in others."

"You make it sound more scrupulous than it is." His tone returned to his usual cynicism. "I don't doubt you'll manage perfectly well as a councilman."

"Why is it something that should be a compliment comes out like such an insult from your lips?" Sana canted her head a bit as she watched the wizard. Even in his disparagement she was intensely curious of the moon elf. "Or do you feel of the courts the way you feel of sorcerers?"

"My feeling toward the courts is mere dissatisfaction, it doesn't quite reach the repulsion -natural- casters tend to inspire." His lips curled in a bit of a snarl, memories of Qara and her betrayal were still fresh enough that he still couldn't think well of her, likely he never would. He relaxed once the moment of mentioning sorcerer's had passed however. "Though given your own words moments ago, you do not seem appeased by the structure of the nobility here either. Why are you so obtrusive in regards to my opinions is another question to be posed."

"You are an intriguing individual Sand. I never met someone like you in Waterdeep, I am curious." She admitted, not showing the insult he'd caused with his words. "Though I suppose I should return to the library and continue to work on the defense for the case."

"I can join you if you'd..."

"No." She interrupted the offer before he finished making it. Shaking her head. "You aren't allowed to visit the library during your confinement. I will see about bringing you a book or two later. The guards at the door can escort you back to your room."

He furrowed his brow after the retreating girl, obviously something had bothered her. _"Likely the poor attitude you offer everything...part of the reason you are in this trouble in the first place."_

He could hear what Jaral would be saying to him if he hadn't left the feline back in the room.

_''She's just trying to help...need you alienate everyone, friend or foe?''_

Sand frowned a bit, little he could do about it now, he had to follow the guards back to his pretty cell. He would have to ask her why she suddenly fled the gardens another time.

**End Chapter**

Whew, this was quite the chapter actually. I just am having a lot of fun with this particular piece. Much to the chagrin of readers of my other fictions I'm sure. Ah Sand, so smart, so clueless for some things... My chapter length is likely going to vary like this as I am trying to just end things where I feel they should end as opposed to reaching a certain amount of words. Next time we get to learn just what Sana is other than an elf.

-Aura

P.S. More reviews imho!


	4. Smooth as Sand

**Chapter Four:** _**Smooth As Sand**_

_"I have great faith in fools - my friends call it self-confidence."_

_**-Edgar Allen Poe**_

"Egocentric, Caustic, Narrow Minded, Old Cretin." Sana punched the pillow of her bed with each insult she tossed out. She hadn't gotten to bed until well after the moon had passed the half-way point in the sky, and she was still laying awake remembering the whole shift in his person whenever sorcerer's were brought up.

"_My distaste for -natural- magic users as they are often referred is well earned." His inflection and the way his lip dipped into a sneer spoke volumes more as to his feelings than his words. "I would not say I have an aversion to all of their member, just all of the ones I've had the displeasure to meet personally."_  
''_"My feeling toward the courts is mere dissatisfaction, it doesn't quite reach the repulsion -natural- casters tend to inspire."''_

_''He doesn't even know that I'm a sorcerer."_ She reminded herself. _"''Not that I should care if he wants to be a prejudiced clown but I can hardly tell him and expect him to work with me even as well as he has been. Likely he'd just request a different person to represent him."_

_''"I'm sure Nevalle would give a sigh of relief. I think he already wants Uncle to take me off the case.''" _She had been thinking herself in these circles for hours. _"I shouldn't care about that either. Maybe he did murder the girl in cold blood, his attitude surely doesn't inspire me to think he'd offer mercy."_

_"If I'm not going to get any sleep anyway I might as well return to the drawing board."_ She sighed as she pushed herself up out of bed and pulled a fluffy white robe on over her nightclothes. Her pile of books was missing a couple of the references she would have liked to have. After chewing her bottom lip a short moment she opened her door and padded toward the library. _"It's not even so much that it's his opinion...I've faced enough bias in my years that I should be used to it. Doesn't mean it fails to sting when I'm still subjected to it."_

The tiled floor of the hallway was chilly beneath her bare feet after leaving the warmer thick carpeting of her quarters. The library had candlelight coming from the edges of the door and she padded up as quietly as she could manage, spying on who else was pursuing knowledge at this ungodly hour of the morning. Both eyebrows raising as she noted the same elf that had left her sleepless. His escorting 'guard' passed out in a chair not far from the studying wizard. _"Damn, and I'd told him he wasn't allowed in the library. ...he's bound to ask about it."_

She backed up a careful step, she didn't want to get the books so badly she'd risk a conversation with the abrasive moon elf. Not when she was still so tired and already on edge , she would make due with the texts already in her bedroom. Sana wasn't at all practiced in the art of moving silently, though anyone could manage when barefoot on tile. She didn't have any hope of evading unnoticed left however when her foot caught on the edge of her fluffy robes and she tripped backward. It was a little comforting that she managed not to grunt or make any other un ladylike noises when her bottom hit the ground, but it was too much to think Tymora would smile on her and that Sand wouldn't notice the thump.

She was still climbing back to her feet when he opened the door fully and blinked at her with much the same expression she figured she had worn when she'd first seen him moments before. "Sana?"

"I tripped over the robe." She floundered for something better to say but it was all she could manage. She hadn't expected to be using it to sneak around the palace in. Her voice was barely above a whisper, the last thing she wanted to do was wake the guard and add to her embarrassing moment. "I wanted to pick up a couple of texts to reference old laws."

"It's nearly three in the morning." Sand pointed out, taking a step back into the room to allow her access. It's candlelight didn't offer much illumination, but elven eyes didn't require much light to function. "You look exhausted, haven't you slept at all?"

"Consider your words." She hissed back, a little annoyed he would question her habits in the circumstances. "You were here when I got here. I thought you weren't allowed in the library."

"When I asked about borrowing books I was told as long as a guard was present I could simply stay here...it's a much better alternative than spending the evening with Khelgar and Neeshka." He commented with a shrug. "You must have been misinformed."

"I guess." She agreed. _"Well I didn't do a poor job of covering for myself on that one if I do say so myself."_

"You should get some rest. You'll do none of us any good if you are too tired to form an argument." Sand pointed out, unsure of how to proceed...he hadn't expected the late visitor for certain.

"Again." She repeated, padding toward the books she wanted, thankfully the shelves she needed were away from the guard. "Consider your words."

"I am unable to represent myself if you have forgotten." Sand gave her a smug smile, trailing after her and noting the books she was picking from the shelves. "And you'll find that rest is not an option for me when I am sharing a room with those two. Once they've passed out I imagine I can use the hours of their recovery for reverie. You are enough of an elf that you know what reverie is correct?"  
She frowned at him, glancing between him and the guard before leaning closer and hissing angrily. "Look you narcissistic imbecile...I've put up with a lot of your poisonous attitude and just let it slide but if you make anymore cutting remarks as to my heritage I'm going to leave you to rot."

Sand paused when her words began to seethe like he hadn't heard them before. He had been jesting with her, though obviously he'd found a sore spot without even meaning to. He wasn't able to form a reply before she began to storm off and he reached out to grab her wrist.

"Sana..." Once she stopped trying to leave and looked back at him he dropped her hand and retreated a step, this was out of his normal realm and he was at a loss for what to say for a long moment. "I. I didn't mean to offend you. I was...just trying to make conversation."

She glanced toward the guard nervously when he spoke above the hushed tones they'd been using, though a small snore made her return her attention to the wizard. _"I'm tired and frustrated. I should just leave."...but...that was an apology wasn't it?_

It took her a moment to make her feet follow what she wanted them to do and continued her trail to the door. "Apology accepted."

"Good luck with your studies then Sana." He nodded to her and moved back toward the desk he'd been using. It wasn't even that he couldn't form some sort of sarcastic retort, there were several he could have used. It seemed better to wish her well and return to his own work.

Once she'd left again and closed the door he glanced at the portal and sighed, rubbing his eyes. _"I think I'm getting soft in my old age. but...She had tears threatening in her eyes...whatever the non-elven part of her is, she's not at all proud of it. Smooth Sand, so very smooth."_

He shook his head at his own failure to communicate, it had been far too long sense he'd tried to have a civilized conversation, he was forgetting how it was suppose to work. Instead he eyed his hand, she'd been cold wandering about at the late hour...even in the spring the night air was much cooler than during the day. Her mismatched eyes had burned at him, a kaleidoscope of emotion that jumped between despair and melancholy to some concealed hunger. It was like part of her had wanted to devour him...

_"I -am- too tired."_ He told himself after realizing the train his thoughts were taking.

_**Meanwhile...**_

Sand had no idea just how close his assessment had been to the truth, Sana leaned on her door after rushing back to her room, trying to catch her breath and rubbing her wrist where he had grabbed her. She normally was so careful to keep her emotions in check, any loss of control from sadness to anger to joy could arouse the part of her she tried so desperately to keep in check.

She was a half-vampire. Her mother had been a creature of the night, and after she had been born left her at her father's doorstep. Perhaps some shred of conscience had kept her from simply killing her newborn, Sana wasn't sure herself of the strange details that had resulted in her birth. Unlike her mother she didn't need blood each day to survive, she rarely had to partake in that part of herself. Once a moon or so she would get the hunger she so despised, that was, as long as she kept her emotions carefully in control at other times.

In the days before she moved to Neverwinter she had to have fed from nearly any man that had wanted to court her, her mothers death had left her a wreck compared to her usual self. It seemed that her move hadn't changed the fact that she was still in mourning.

"Stupid Sana...so stupid." She hissed at herself, frowning as she spoke and realized that her fangs had shown themselves without her even realizing it. One of the few blessings her mixed blood had given her was that she could normally control the growth of her canines. She pushed away from the door and moved toward the lovely darkwood vanity that she'd been provided. "I even look like hell."

It didn't take long once the hungers hit her for her body to react...likely a result of her normally doing anything in her power to starve herself of this particular need. Her eyes were sunken more than normal and the dark circles weren't the result of her simply not getting enough rest. Her hair seemed dirty and had lost the shimmer it usually held otherwise, even her mismatched eyes seemed dull and cloudy. "No wonder he thought I looked so exhausted."

She looked down from the mirror and opened the drawer of the vanity, where several combs and hair pieces had been neatly arranged. Shoving them aside with disinterest and reaching along the edge of the drawer to push in a hidden button. It popped open the thin false bottom that the vanity camouflaged for her and revealed the thin vials she was searching for. The red liquid within was a blood that had been alchemically augmented so it would fill her unorthodox thirst without the need for her to harm anyone. She fumbled a moment and then held the vial tightly, moving it closer to her chest the way an addict might clutch their drugs. She tugged the stopper free and downed the whole of the long phial without pausing to breath, closing her eyes.

It was a disgraceful euphoria that washed over her. Her whole body seemed to thrum with the rapture the sinful drink inspired. If she hadn't had years of practice, and the vials didn't cost an arm and leg to subtly procure, she would have opened the second one she lifted from the drawer. Instead she forced herself to put it back in it's place and begin the ritual of sealing back off the nature of the dark secret she had to hide.

The King was aware of her true nature, and only the king, he hadn't even entrusted it's knowledge to the Nine. Though even he didn't know all of the details he chose to look the other way when it came to this part of her. Sana panted lightly as her body began to unwind now that her addiction had been sated. Letting herself slide to the carpeted floor and lay out, even if she hated herself for it she couldn't help but take part in the ecstacy drinking gave her.

**End Chapter**

So I've always wanted them to add the Half-Vampire Template to the NWN2 game. Sue me, it's a good template dammit. I fiddled some from the regular template in D&D 3.5 to make my plot have a bit more drama. I also like the Catfolk template a lot but yeah...I can't see Sand with a furry.

-Aura

P.S. Please review me? I'll give you cake.


	5. Aspects of Pain

**Chapter Five:** _**Aspects of Pain**_

_"We're never so vulnerable than when we trust someone - but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy."_

_**-Walter Anderson**_

Sana stirred slowly to the pounding that was happening near enough to pierce her comfortable unconsciousness and draw her toward waking. Her back was sore she noted as she shifted, moaning in unintelligible protest of the insistence of whoever was pounding on her door.

"Lady Sana?!" Nevalle sounded urgent. "Are you all right? Hello?"

_"Damn."_ She thought with a sigh, of all the people that could have found her. She cleared her throat and called back. "I'm fine. Hold on a moment!"

She squinted in the sunlight filtering in through the violet curtains of her balcony, pushing herself up from where she'd passed out on the floor and eyeing the unorganized hair pieces she'd tossed haphazardly away from the drawer in her frantic rush for blood the night before. She didn't remember passing out on the floor but wasn't surprised, she was used to sleeping in the days after she fed. It seemed as if feeding left her with some of the other weaknesses that were common to vampires. Explaining the difficulty Nevalle had found in stirring her from sleep in the middle of the day. She pulled her robe a little tighter around herself and pushed her hair down as much as it would allow before opening her door. She offered the knight a tired smile.

"Sir Nevalle, is there something I can help you with?" She stifled a yawn, her brain yelling at her to crawl into bed and sleep some more.

"Mi'lady...I don't mean to pry but you had a meeting planned this afternoon with some of the accused." The knight looked away from her once he'd noticed her in the robes, even if she was decent in her mind apparently his stuffy views had a different opinion. "When they brought up that you had failed to present yourself and no one else had seen you either this morning I thought it best to come make certain you were well."

"I didn't mean to cause you concern." She played the court games well once they were started, tired or otherwise it had been a part of her life ever sense her mother had taken her in. "I was up late looking over some of the older laws of Neverwinter and I didn't tell any of my servants to wake me up."

"Are you well enough to make the meeting or should I let them know that you will be coming later?" He still didn't so much as glance at her. Instead noting that he'd have to speak to the cleaners about the layer of dust that had gathered on the edges of the hall.

"I will prepare myself and go over to them shortly. Thank you for you help Sir Nevalle." She offered another smile before she closed the door. Very little could ruin her mood the first day after she'd allowed herself to indulge and she didn't want to chance losing the elated feeling sooner than she likely would given her current job.

She moved quickly cleaning herself up and dressing more appropriately in the robes reserved for the casters that worked for Neverwinter. The teal and silver coloring an amusing coincidence given her multicolored gaze. Her left eye was a deeper blue instead of teal but it was close enough that she smiled about it. Perhaps she was meant to work for this city after all. She rearranged her hair pins carefully and closed her vanity before she exited to head toward where the accused were being kept.

"I need to stop drinking that poison you do Khelgar." Neeshka was complaining as she rubbed her head with one hand and her stomach with the other. "I don't even remember half of what I put down last night."

"Bah, you'd think havin' a bit of devil blood you'd be less of a sissy." The dwarf laughed at her hangover, apparently fine himself despite the fact that he'd out-drunk the tiefling the day before. Pouring a glass of the liquor and handing it to her. "Best way to take the edge off."

"You just want to keep me in pain." the tiefling half-whined but sipped from the offered glass anyway. "And I don't have a lifetime of being a boozer so of course I'm not gonna do as well."

"Just means you need to work at catching up." Khelgar chuckled back, patting her hard enough that he nearly knocked her off her chair before re-taking his seat.

Sana smiled some at the exchange going on, not surprised anymore to see Sand was sitting at the same table as the other two. Reading one of the books that had been stacked on the desk in the library the night before.

"Bout time." Neeshka grumbled when she saw the noblewoman walking inside, frowning at Khelgar when he smacked her feet off the table. "What?"

"Afternoon." The dwarf nodded to Sana, dusting off the extra chair and gesturing at it. "You wanted to speak with us about getting Sand 'ere off the hook right?"

"Something like that." She nodded to the dwarf, accepting the seat and glancing toward Sand. A little embarrassed after their exchange the night before. The moon elf hadn't even glanced up from his book though. "I wanted to hear from you what happened during the battle with the Lord of Shadows."

"It wasn't fun." Neeshka said, voice darker than usual as she remembered the torture she'd faced and the pain it caused her to resist the spell that was telling her to betray the shard bearer. "I had problems of my own to deal with while all that was going on. I know I saw Sand and Qara battling, but it was after she'd changed sides to join the big bad. I can't really tell you beyond that, I was sorta concerned with my own hide."

"Nothing new there." Khelgar remarked with a shake of his head. "Well. I guess she's right. Hmm. Garius asked if any of us were gonna switch sides and Qara started talking about how she was tired of being told what to do and walked over to his side. Sand just sorta sighed about it, said he was expecting it. When battle broke loose he actually drew her away from everyone else so her magic wouldn't tear into us. I still remember him having some nasty looking burns after he teleported us out of there, if he hadn't gotten us out magically like he did likely we wouldn't be here telling you the story."

"Not much more than I already knew." Sana observed, glancing to the indifferent moon elf. Sand was still reading like he wasn't hearing a word of the stories his companions were telling. "Did she try to attack the rest of you?"

"Yeah, little turncoat opened with some magic or another that send shards of ice right over the lot of us." Khelgar and Neeshka both nodded at the dwarf's comments. "It didn't last long though, guess he deflected it or whatever and I remember him sending a lightning bolt right through her."

Neeshka giggled some, seeming to be thinking. "I remember that now, she had this indignant glare on her face and when Sand moved away from us after tossing the spell at her. She followed him right away and the two were both giving the fight a show of fireworks. Pretty good way of getting her to concentrate on him though."

"Bitch deserved it." Khelgar cursed, frowning more now that he thought about it. "After everything that the shard bearer did for her and she just walks over to the enemy like that. Hell, the more I remember it the more I think if she had survived the battle I would have rung her pretty little neck."

Sana raised her hands sheepishly at that. "That's the sort of thing you don't want to say in court. I get the idea. Is there anything else you would like to say or think that would help?"

She noted that Sand hadn't turned the page sense the stories began, it took her a bit but she realized he was listening even if he was pretending not to care about what was being said. He'd even tensed a little when they talked about the girl betraying them.

"Not much more to say really." Neeshka said with a shrug. "I mean, this is all just so silly. The lot of us would have stabbed her repeatedly even if she hadn't died in the battle. Doesn't saying that we would have murdered her if she survived mean that we wouldn't be worried about it if we _-had-_ done it?"

"You dolt, she just said not to talk like that." Sana sighed as Khelgar smacked the tiefling again, his hair falling around him as he shook his head again. "Look, Sand might be a bitter old man without a woman that would glance his way and with a shitty outlook but he's not stupid. He did what had to be done, just like all of us done. I'll stay here til doomsday does come if thats what it takes to get him cleared of this poppycock."

"Poppycock?" Neeshka pulled her tail away before the dwarf could step on it, sticking her tongue out at him. "And you say Sand is old, what is that?"

"Well, that is all I need for now then I suppose." Sana interrupted, hoping she could distract them from their incoming squabble. "Anything you feel you need to add Sand?"

At his name the moon elf glanced slowly up from the pages beneath him. "Hmm? Did you need me for something?"

"Don't you pay attention to anything?" Neeshka sighed at him apparently not having heard anything. "Wonder they think you can murder anything going senile."

He raised a brow sharply at the tiefling's insults, though before he could offer a response Sana interjected again. "I asked if there was anything you had to add to their story? Did you really distract Qara to protect the rest of the group?"

"A matter of self-perseverance," Sand drawled, though a sly smile flickered at the edge of his lips as he explained. "Many of the spells she had required a group target to be utilized to their full potential. It was only logical to allow the main group to attend to the larger enemy while I kept her too busy to be a threat to the battle as a whole."

"Still...all my information states that she was no weakling. How did the battle between you both go?" There was a matter of personal interest but it could end up being something she needed to hear for the case.

Sand glanced toward the dwarf and tiefling starting to bicker over a bit of meat at the table. "Perhaps there is a quieter room for me to offer my retelling of the duel. I would hate to interrupt my companions beating on each other for a piece of mutton."

"Bah, lighten up." Khelgar rolled his eyes.

"I think he just wants to get Sana alone." Neeshka jumped into the teasing of the wizard as she leaned back in her chair, offering the pair a wry smile. "They are both elves after all...I always thought he had a thing for those teenage girls in the crypts."

Sana blushed at the implications being made, the pink almost immediately visible on her cheeks. "Um...yes...we can speak in the gardens. Follow me." She fumbled to put her notes away and almost ran to get out of the room.

"Ah look at that, I think you might got it right for once demon rat." Khelgar bellowed a laugh as the girl dashed for the door and Sand followed after a deflated sigh at the antics of the pair. "I think the girl at least might got the hots for the wizard."

"Well, I guess if you like the frail elven sort he ain't bad looking. Or might have been okay before he hit his third century." Neeshka continued the jokes even as both of the pair left the room. It was apparently something that would entertain the two for a time.

Sana swallowed at the uncomfortable silence (at least for her) that came once they managed to get out of earshot. Leading the way toward the gardens for the second time. "At least they do think of themselves as your friends."

"And now I need no enemies." Sand referenced the famous phrase with his typical cynicism. "Qara wasn't as difficult to defeat as some might like to believe. I had been with the group and seen the spells she was capable of. I was, as Khelgar pointed out, waiting for her to turn on us. Like any wizard's duel, it was simply a matter of who was prepared more formidably. I had been preparing spells daily for months that would protect me from her patterns of attacks. Not that she didn't eventually burn through my defenses, but by then I'd done enough damage to finish her without much effort."

"...because sorcerers aren't as versed as wizards." Sana nodded some at his comments, it made sense. On one hand if a wizard has time to read his opponent and know what defenses to create they will leave the enemy frazzled and leave a counterattack futile. On the other hand, if a sorcerer has a chance to catch their target unawares they'll almost never survive.

She had paused, letting her hand trace the soft petals of one of the rose bushes at the gardens edge while she thought about things. "They'll use the fact that you were so prepared as a gesture of premeditation."

She glanced back to gauge how he took her words and paused as she caught his intense blue eyes. He'd been watching her the whole time as she traipsed the path she normally walked alone subconsciously. And in keeping with her lack of paying attention she caught a finger on one of the thorns. "Ouch."

Sana waved her hand with a wince as she sent the offending bush a glare, putting the cut to her lips and barely getting the taste of her own blood before Sand stepped forward and took her hand. Apparently he kept bandages somewhere in that robe of his cause he was already wrapping her finger as he spoke. "Hopeless girl. Heed your surroundings without getting so easily preoccupied with your other concerns."

"Right." She replied slowly, watching him wrap her finger like he'd done his fair share of first aid. Given his history it shouldn't have been a shock. He smelled like a mixture of old texts, coffee, and copper. He was close enough that she could sent the blood under his skin. _"Or is that the bit of mine on my lips?"_

"There. Take more care, your uncle _-would-_ let me hang if something were to happen to you with me here." He finished, tieing it off and patting her hand. A dark brow raising a little curiously when he noted the same hungry glint in her eye that he'd witnessed the night before. "Sana, are you well?"

"Fine." She looked instantly at the ground, trying to calm herself. The warmth lingering on her hand and the flavor of blood on her lips made it a losing battle. "I should go..."

"Fleeing from me again?" Sand's voice was clipped but amused. "Why with you do I seem to stimulate such dismay?"

"It's not fear you are inspiring." She said distractedly, stepping away from him as her mind got dizzy. _"Again? I should be fine after last night...it's like I didn't feed at all."_

"What is it then?" He was carefully neutral with that question, though both brows had raised in surprise at the response she'd given him. Though when she fumbled to walk straight he frowned and stepped forward to steady her, placing a hand on her arm gently. "Sana, are you all right?"

"Don't....Sand...you don't..." She tugged her arm away and the motion was enough that she would have fallen over if the wizard hadn't caught her again. She frowned as he was only offering her a confused and concerned expression, he didn' understand at all. "You need to...go...get away from me..."

It wasn't often that her hunger grasped her so fully. It was like she'd starved herself for years and it was coming to bear all at once...something was definitely wrong. This was so exceptionally bad and there was so little she could do about it. It was taking all her willpower to resist the urge to bite into Sand as it was.

"What are you talking about? I should get the guards, you need to see a healer." He started to help her sit down so he could run for the guard but that would only make her situation more complicated. She put an arm around him to keep him with her.

"No..." Her voice sounded desperate. He froze when she pulled herself close to him, this was not at all a situation he was prepared for. When she whispered to him again it was like she was changing personality's, her tone had deepened and the hunger he'd seen in her eyes had transfered itself. "Stay...please..."

He jumped when he felt her kiss his neck, this wasn't at all what he had expected. Raising his hands to pull himself away from her, the scene was too bizarre for it to be erotic. Images of Sir Nevalle taking his head off were more than enough to ruin any sort of amorous mood for the wizard. "Sana, as complimentary as this advance is, I don't think that you are...ow!"

His train of thought came crashing to a halt as she bit him, he was about to offer much less kind words but the pain passed and was replaced with an elation that made him forget the questionable position they were in. He held her tightly against him instead as his legs gave out. She didn't even seem to notice as they hit the grass, nothing seemed important in that instant but reveling the euphoric embrace.

He was intoxicated with ecstacy, his hands moving to pull at her robes, a hiss of pleasure escaping his lips when she pulled herself into his lap. It passed his notice that she was drinking his life's blood. It didn't matter to him that he was feeling up the King's adopted niece in the middle of the royal gardens...

**End Chapter**

You all knew it was coming! Don't act otherwise. This part was pretty easy to predict. Rawr half vampire loving...or something like that.

-Aura

P.S. The lack of reviews makes me cry...on the inside.


	6. Protection vs Fangs?

**Chapter Six: ** _**Protection vs Fangs?**_

_Thoughts can be used one of two ways, like a Band-Aid or like a rubber band. Choose to stretch._

_**-Rhonda LaShae**_

He was half pondering the need for a spell that would instantly disrobe a woman when actual pain shot up his leg, Jaral had scratched his calf hard enough to pull him from the spell of Sana's kiss. He let out a half yelp of pain and confusion, the promise of pleasure in her embrace trying to tug his mind back down as he pushed against the girl futilely, her heritage offered her a strength that didn't reflect itself in her frail appearance.

"Sana." He even sounded weak. "Stop before I have to dislodge you with force."

The threat was hollow, he was having a hard enough time not returning to feeling up the girl on top of him instead of pushing her away, he doubted he could have summoned the control to remember what he'd even prepared, more or less form the spell itself.

Thankfully, she stopped before he needed to test his willpower, her tongue licking over the paired puntures she'd placed on his neck was already enough that his wandering fingers had found their way back to her hips. Both of them were still breathing heavily and his brain was entertaining the temptation to push her down and have his way with her more than he liked. If he wasn't so disoriented and exhausted from blood loss he might have tried it. She seemed to suddenly come to her senses herself, her whole body going rigid before she scrambled away from him, staring at him in horror.

The irony of her reaction compared to his own hazy mind made him laugh outright, Jaral had moved between him and the girl as if the feline had every intention to protect it's master. "Well, that remedies me of the need to ask you where your unique appearance heralds from."

"Sand." She blinked, crawling back over and touching his forehead, ignoring the protective kitty hissing at her. He wasn't as warm as he should have been. "God, I'm such an idiot. They must have tampered with my vials. We need to get you to a healer...I didn't mean to...damn. Do you think you can stand up?"

The concern creasing her face made the elf smile, albeit a bit tiredly. "Calm down. I will try."

He didn't even get to his knees before stars danced in front of his vision and the girl was forced to catch him before he landed face-first in the dirt. He could feel himself being lifted but his consciousness gave out before he could form any other words. His clever retort lost with the blackness that engulfed him.

Even with the added help her undead heritage blood gave her if Sand hadn't been such a light load she doubted she would have been able to carry him without help. It was good that she'd been able to visit the church in the blacklake district during her visit or her teleport might have gone horribly awry and made the situation even more dire. As it was she had no explanation for the bruise she'd left on his neck, she hoped that the priest that was there when she appeared in the middle of the church was capable of keeping their interactions to himself.

He felt vaguely like he'd joined Khelgar on his binge styled pursuits, his head was aching as he began to come back to consciousness. He could hear chanting, the familiar sound helping to pull him from the dark abyss of sleep, the words were unfamiliar but he could guess the spell once a warmth enveloped him, he'd been on the receiving end of more than a few restoration spells in his adventures and he recognized the surge of strength that accompanied the mystical glow.

"Oh thank god." Adversely, the relieved words when he opened his eyes weren't ones he was used to hearing. Blinking to adjust to the low lighting in the temple's back room where he was laying across an uncomfortable wooden bench and a cleric was touching his face, making him scowl. Sana was seated on the floor next to where he was laid out, distress clinging to her face despite her words. "Are you okay?"

He pushed the cleric's hands away from his face before he sat up, gaining a more dignified position was the first thing on his mental list before answering any questions. Speaking to the attendant in a hoarse voice. "Could you retrieve me some water?"

"Yes." The man glanced between the pair before heading dutifully out of the antechamber.

Leaving Sana to be quiet and Sand to watch the woman that had accosted him as he added up what had happened before he fainted. "Care to explain?"

"I..." She hesitated, it looked as if she had been crying. "I didn't mean to attack you."

"I assumed that much from you repeating it several dozen times." He noted with a bit of a smirk.

"I don't know what happened." She answered honestly. "I...normally I'm in control of my hunger thanks to an artifical form of sustenance but...someone must have tampered with it. Are you sure you are okay?"

"I'll manage to weather through. Easier if you'd stop repeating everything." He leaned back on the bench, still a little too dizzy to consider standing safe but unwilling to lay back down. "Who else knows?"

She didn't answer, the cleric had returned with a tray. "Here, I want you to drink this cider and eat these. The sugar will be good for your system. I wouldn't linger too long my lady, I'm sure they'll miss you at the palace."

After the fellow had left she sighed herself, shaking her head...her hair had been let loose of it's hairpiece and flowed around her face making a beautiful frame. It was a little disheveled, along with her robes, which were ripped at one of the shoulders.

_"Gods, I sure did a number on her...I even vaguely remember tossing that comb of hers off into the bushes...I didn't realize I'd torn her clothing." _Sand measured her over before looking at himself. _"Not that I'm any better off."_

"Only the King is aware of my true nature." She finally admitted nervously, fiddling with a strand of the blue hair between two fingers. "He knows that I'm capable of suppressing it with the help of magic and well...he didn't even tell the Nine."

"Did anyone see what happened?" Sand was trying to gauge what he would expect, picking up the cider to try to rid himself of the dryness in his throat.

The alarmed expression she returned him already told him what she was about to say. "Gods, I hadn't even thought of that. I don't know. Once I, er, once you pushed me away and I realized what had happened I brought us here."

"I doubt you got all the way here in the middle of the day without someone seeing you." He picked up one of the cookies the cleric had brought and put it in his mouth, chewing as he tried to organize his thoughts.

"I didn't walk..." She frowned when she said it. "I teleported us here, you needed help right away, I wasn't sure how much damage I'd done."

"You are a sorcerer aren't you?" He chuckled to himself, the question was a statement. "I should have known. That's why you stormed off the other day."

"You don't mind?" She blinked, surprised at reaction, it was quite the opposite of what she had expected. "I thought you'd..."

"What, toss a fireball at you?" He mocked with a smirk. "I'm hardly that droll. The fact that you nearly killed me is a bit more distressing than that discovery."

She winced a little when he mentioned it, glancing back at the stone floor where she was seated. She was certainly the most humble sorcerer he'd ever come across. "I'm sorry Sand, I should probably let you recover...I'll need to explain the situation to Nevalle."

"I wouldn't recommend it. Nasher would have a fit if you went about telling your dark secret to people." Sand reprimanded calmly, picking up another cookie. "I am perfectly capable of keeping secrets dear girl."

"but..." she paused, the conversation was going completely off of the track she'd practiced. "You could have died."

"Intent on reminding me of that?" He offered her a sidelong glance after he'd finished chewing and swallowed some of the cider. "Now that I am aware of your...particular circumstances I will be able to put protections in place."

"Protections?" She repeated the word dubiously. "Against what? Fangs?"

"Something of the sort." He replied mysteriously. "If you think a detail like nearly expiring is going to frighten me away then you misunderstand my resolve."

The comment made her smile a little. "Glad to see you remain so immobile when I was terrified."

"I bet you say that to all your meals." He offered her a smug glance when she dropped her mouth open at the comment.

"You...you are impossible." She crossed her arms with a huff at his unshakable attitude. "Just finish eating so we can go back to the gardens. If Nevalle figures out what happened he won't be nearly so stoic."

"If the nobility hears what we were doing in the gardens you will be the last person Nevalle is concerned with speaking to or gutting, respectively." Sand observed, his own tone a little darker with the thought. _"Nasher would behead me for certain."_

The burning blush on her cheeks reminded him of the details of what they had been doing in the gardens. Her skin was much softer than it looked...though her nails were sharper than they appeared...he wondered just how much further she'd of been willing to go. He frowned a little then and shook his head to clear it of the less than pure images running through it. _"-That- is the last thing you need to be thinking about right now. It has only been a decade or so sense you laid with a woman Sand, get a grip."_

_"Such an embrace isn't natural anyway." _He reminded himself. _"Likely a gift to the undead leeches from a powerful succubus on some lower plane."_

"We should be on our way." She finally managed to compose herself enough from that reminder to mention it. "Think you'll be okay?"

"I'll be fine." He nodded. "Are you whisking us back then?"

"Unless you'd rather." She shrugged a bit. "I don't want you to grow an aversion to me just from me casting some spells."

"If my near death didn't leave me adverse to your company I doubt anything will." He offered a sly smile, holding out a hand for her. "Besides, I need to see for myself how sloppy your casting is before I make further judgments."

An eye twitched a little at his comment but she reached out and took his hand, closing her eyes to picture the gardens and invoke the words that would return them to the castle. It was a short moment and the feeling of being weightless washed over both of them before gravity returned, the scent of incense replaced by freshly cut grass and roses. The teleport had left them back where the assault had started, a piece of fabric from her robes tangled in one of the bushes near an area where the grass had been pressed into the earth.

_"Just how hard was she pushing me down?"_ He thought as she dropped his hand, the girl seeming more nervous about their sudden return than he did. He was more preoccupied with making sure there was no remaining evidence of their intimate encounter.

"Crap." The single word brought his eyes to bear on where Nasher was heading into the gardens nearby. He wasn't expecting the shove that dropped him into a group of gentle blue Hydrangea bushes, resisting the urge to bellow his indignation at the sudden relocation of his person. Though he gritted his teeth and stayed as much out of sight as he could. Going with whatever it was the girl was conjuring seemed his best chance for survival.

**End Chapter**

I had to search on yahoo for a little bit to find the actual name of the flower type I was after. My neighbors had a bunch of them when I was kid and I knew what they looked like but had to search to find the actual name. I loved those things, they were so pretty. The quote this chapter was inspired in part by Purple Crow and her wild fiction Some Things Will Never Happen.

_-Aura_

_To my reviewers:_

_Oh wait, I'd have to have some. -Insert sigh here-_


	7. Facets of Emotion

**Chapter Seven: _Facets of Emotion_**

_Anyone can become angry -- that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way -- this is not easy._

_**-Aristotle**_

The afternoon seemed nice enough, cold weather rarely plagued the city of Neverwinter, it would grow cooler in the evenings but even in the winter days were never unpleasant. Archmage Creston Malygaurd was doing anything but enjoying the perfect temperature however, glaring down at the palace he'd been separated from because of the King's niece. Fingers drumming the ledge of his window in a show of his irritation.

Not that his own position was poor, in one of the towers of the cities academy with a variety of magical devices on the shelves of his office. All at his disposal. Though he retained an annoyed sneer as he continued to offer the palace a dirty look. A crystal ball lay on his desk where it had failed to divine him the girl he was trying to watch for information. Ever sense he'd been alerted that she was taking over as the representation for Sand and had been poking about things that were none of her business he'd taken to watching her via magic.

He had gotten a surprise the night before when he'd seen her rushing to her room to take some sort of red potion but had missed whatever the events were that lead up to the event. Until the servant he paid earlier successfully stole him one of those vials he couldn't pursue anything. She had been studying law books for a time but whenever she entered an area close to Sand his scrying magic failed him. Not that it was a surprise that the elven wizard would have defenses against such spying but it was still a thorn in his side.

He was still an aristocratic man, a elder handsomeness had taken over once youthful good looks. Not that the dyed black hair didn't give away that he would rather avoid the age that he was beginning to show. Though the more he considered Sand the angrier the moon elf made him, a toad croaking from nearby drawing his attention. The creature that functioned as his familiar was far more intelligent than it appeared.

"I would have been content leaving him to run his shop in the docks if he could have let things go." The Archmage spoke to his familiar aloud, it wasn't an uncommon occurrence amongst casters given their connection to the animals. "He didn't have to treat Qara as he did, she had enough problems with the other students without needing a former instructor constantly breathing down her neck."

The toad blinked at him once, seeming to yawn, it's wide maw opening and then closing again after several seconds.

"I never wanted her traveling with those worthless lower class hooligans. They functioned as a portable guard for her while I was dealing with the other instructors as to the trouble she'd gotten into." He reminded the reptile before moving from the window over to the creatures place on the desk near the crystal ball. "I thought perhaps a little humbling would be good for her, that worthless hedge wizard just took advantage of the rest of those fools being busy to steal her from me."

The frustrated man had moisture threatening in the edges of his gaze, which only served to make his ire grow. It was an automatic response to reach down and pet the rough freckled skin of his familiar when the creature dropped into his lap.

"I know that! But they just let him wander the palace, what sort of justice does that give Qara? He was marked for death in Luskan for being a traitor to the host tower, old habits don't change. I know he killed her to get at me. He's always been jealous of sorcerer's, decades only seemed to have made him worse not better." The archmage stood up and put the toad back on the desk, pacing and running wrinkled fingers through his hair. "Even if they toss him in prison, he'll be getting off easy. I want him to hang, to suffer."

The toad blinked a couple times, to anyone watching that wasn't aware of a wizard's connection to their familiar they would consider the man mad. Though given a couple of changes in his pitch during his tirade some people might think so regardless.

Finally he returned after some pacing to his chair, putting a hand over his eyes as his body shook despite his fighting the tears until then. His voice had changed to a whisper when he spoke again, his words distraught "He stole my little girl from me...I don't care what I have to do...I'll get vengeance for Qara."

It was the first time he'd cried at all sense he'd heard of his daughter's death, it was a battle to keep from shaking so hard he'd fall out of his chair...

_**Elsewhere...**_

Sand was brooding over what he could have done to earn the disastrous karma that was plaguing him, perhaps Tymora was just using him for a laugh. Likely she had a stitch in her side after he'd been tossed into flower bushes that covered him in robin egg blue petals. If anyone saw him murder would definitely start to have it's redeemable features in ceasing the ridicule. Likely he would develop hay-fever at any moment and add to the mirth of the heavens.

"Sana? Is that you? What on earth happened?" It seemed that she had failed to hide herself after the rude shove. Nasher sounded confused. "How did your robes get torn like that?"

_"I didn't consider myself nearly that barbaric."_ Sand thought disapprovingly in his own silent reply, if he was trapped in the middle of pastel floral he might as well entertain himself while he waited for the coast to be clear.

"I was trying to climb up and get one of the higher roses and I fell." She at least managed to lie easily enough. "My clothing got caught on some of the thorns and didn't survive nearly as well as I."

_"Fell? Might as well tell him that the bruise on my neck is cause I stumbled down the steps."_ Sand rolled his eyes at the cliche.

"Oh, I'm glad you didn't get injured then." Nasher still sounded concerned, not a hint of distrust.

_"Idiot."_

"I thought you were suppose to be meeting with the accused this afternoon." The king seemed fine with making basic conversation. "I didn't expect to find you here."

_"Be thankful you didn't arrive twenty minutes prior. You really wouldn't have expected that._

_"_"I just needed a short break." Sana answered, making a show of dusting her robes off. "The dwarf and tiefling tend to argue a lot."

_"Understatement."_

"I only met them in passing." Nasher replied with a shrug. "Sand being an acceptable gentleman?"

_"If you don't include ripping open her gown in a fit of passion." Stunningly gentile I'm sure._

"Yes, he's been helpful in helping me form a case." Sana nodded a bit, doing her best not to show the apprehension she felt. Moving strategically away from where she'd unceremoniously tossed the moon elf. "His personality is less gruff than his companions."

_"I certainly hope so._

_"_"Be careful Sana, he is a useful alchemist but he could still be taking information to Luskan." Nasher warned, his tone serious.

_"-Still- singing that old tune mmm?"_

"I don't think he is a spy." Sana answered with a frown. "There are many here that only show him distrust. Do you think with such poor treatment his attitude will ever change?"

_"Your appreciation would mean more if your fangs hadn't been in my neck less than an hour ago."_

"There is a lot more to Sand than you, or even I, are aware of." Nasher didn't seem to be taking the words to heart at all. "It is better to remain wary of him even if he did aid the Knight Captain in the defeat of the Lord of Shadows."

_"Don't feel bad Sana. It's not easy to teach old dogs new tricks. Impossible according to some._

"I suppose you are right uncle." She accented, the argument was going to get her no close to getting either of them free of the gardens.

_"Better to play along."_

"Don't tell him about yourself Sana." Nasher commented with a sigh. "He is perceptive, I doubt it would take much for him to decipher your heritage."

_"Too late for that."_

"I understand." She lied with a nod. "Should I leave you to look at the gardens?"

_"If you ditch me here you'll pay for it."_

"No. I know what it's like to need a walk to clear your head now and then. Just be careful Sana, I don't wish for any harm to befall you here." Nasher headed away from the area himself then.

_"Finally. It's a wonder Neverwinter survives._

Sand waited until Sana hissed a small 'he's gone' to climb his way free of the puffy floral bushes, picking a few leaves out of the front of his robes and dusting petals from his ebony hair. The giggle the girl stifled did nothing to dispel the glower he offered her. His tone dripping with sarcasm. "I'm simply delighted my embarrassment is able to entertain you so."

"Could you be more acrid? I'm not sure I got enough of the bitterness in there." Sana replied, pausing to help him pick a few stray sticks and leaves stuck to his back. "Would you rather I have told him the truth?"

"I'm certain there could have been other lies I would have preferred to hiding away in the hedges." Sand replied, bright eyes watching the girl primp him as she slid to one of his sides as opposed to his back, still picking leaves out of the lace on his robes. "We should return to working on the case, I can't imagine Malygaurd is giving people a moment of rest."

"Yes." She agreed, it was odd that he was so willing to just return to work but she could hardly complain. "Let's head to the library."

_**Later...**_

"You...do you really think he would do that?" Sana blinked at the information Sand had brought to her attention. "I mean, you were his old teacher, wouldn't it be stupid for him to challenge you?"

"Don't assume that all creatures are logical. Malygaurd has always reacted in extreme ways, I can't do anything but expect he'll do the same here." Sand replied, leaning back in his chair and stretching, hours of study in the library had left them with a few more things and him with a aching back. _"I miss my comfortable chair at the store."_

"Even if he challenged you to a trial by combat...you helped to teach him. Doesn't that put him at a disadvantage?" Sana needed to see if she could get her uncle to approve removing the ancient law that allowed this trial by combat. "It's so...stupid."

"Definitely don't hold to the misconception that all, or even most, creatures are intelligent." He returned with a smirk. Pinching the bridge of his nose...the day had left him with a headache, likely his earlier blood loss hadn't aided such a physical condition but he didn't need any further apologies. He would be far more content to put that event out of his memory.

"Do you think you could win, I mean, if it comes to that." Sana felt responsible for his well being while she was representing him. Though there was the underlying fear that the one person she'd been able to have an honest conversation with would be gone. It was a strange relief that she'd been able to tell someone else about her nature, even if how he'd learned of it was horrible his unassuming acceptance made her feel close to the elf.

"Dear girl, you wound me." He held a hand mockingly on his chest, just over his heart. "You think so little of me that you believe that third-rate illusionist would even have a chance?"

She rolled her eyes and picked up another book to reference with a sigh. "Well if you could just drop your ego on him he wouldn't last long enough to have final words. Don't you think he'll fight dirty if he really believes you murdered his daughter."

"Do _-you-_ think he'd keep things legitimate even if Qara wasn't a inspiration?" Sand shrugged with the sharp reply. "Apparently you've missed the history of this case that involved learning anything at all about Malygaurd. He isn't famous for a righteous disposition."

"Bah, don't know why I bother posing any questions." Sana frowned at his egotistical attitude. "Might serve you right if he beat you senseless. You weren't that well prepared against attack earlier today...I'm just trying to make sure you are as well protected as possible."

The reminder of his powerlessness was a sharper verbal slap than the girl even realized, turning a page and missing the tightening around his eyes that often served as a tell of his sore spots. "I doubt that Malygaurd will be using sex appeal as a way to distract me from his offensive."

"What?!" The way the comment made her voice raised incredulous pitch was a silent win for the wizard's oral spar. The stutter that worked it's way in was just an added bonus. "I did not use...se...eh...I mean...I didn't even mean to...in the first place."

It was nearly impossible to keep his neutral expression and tone as he replied. "Mmm, eyes of the beholder..."

Her face was a satisfying shade of rose, completely flushed as a result of her distress. Her voice raising another couple octaves with her protests. "I didn't..._-do-_ anything like..._-that-_! Be...besides, you are the one that was trying to rip my clothes off."

The attempt to shift the blame was deflected without effort. Sand was quite smug by now. "I didn't see you complaining, unless your climbing into my lap to straddle me was a misinterpreted effort to show me your displeasure."

He doubted it was possible for her to head to hold anymore blood, even her neck and shoulders had begun to take the pink shade, as if the blood was leaking steadily from her face. Sana opened her mouth then shut it again, then opened it...then closed it. She couldn't even form a reply she was so mortified, though a sudden widening of her eyes alerted Sand of the approaching attack soon enough that he was able to erect a shield around himself.

Nevalle's punch had been pushed barely away by the magical barrier, the elven wizard retreating a few steps toward the other side of the table as everything turned and the knight stalked after him. "How dare you speak to the Lady Sana like that! You deceitful wretch, I knew you were a jerk but I mistakenly thought you had a grasp of decorum."

_**End Chapter**_

_So much for keeping it a secret. I see Sand's pride as his biggest flaw, it's also why he has so many fangirls, but women like to try to fix men I think. Way to piss off the knight Sand. You are doing stunningly well so far. -Insert evil cackle here-_

_-Aura_

Hey. I know there are people reading this. I can tell by the list of what chapters have had hits. You should be ashamed of yourselves for not giving me a few words of encouragement or criticism or something! I wanna see that someone cares enough to drop me a line. Review darn it!


	8. Losing Secrets

**Chapter Eight:** _**Losing Secrets**_

_"There is no glory in honesty if it is destructive. And no shame in dishonesty if its goal is to offer grace."_

_**-M.J. Rose**_

Though the initial strike had been unexpected Sand had several spell options at the front of his mind should Nevalle continue his assault. Months of working with the Shard Bearer had left him able to react to assassins. It wasn't the case here but the principle was generally the same.

"Sir Nevalle!" Sana's interjection was appreciated. It wouldn't go over well for the trial if he was forced to defend himself against one of the Nine. "Stop it."

The lady yelling at him gave the knight enough pause that he thought better of pursuing the at-the-ready caster. Though it didn't stop him from frowning. "Mi'lady, the way in which he was speaking to you is unacceptable."

"I am capable of speaking for myself. Don't concern yourself with Sand's behavior." Sana retorted with a sigh, rubbing her temples was becoming as much a habit as the headaches she was trying to avoid. "What do you need Sir Nevalle?"

The knight was letting his aggressive stance fade slowly back to normal but still seemed both angry and confused. "I came seeking to speak to you mi'lady. It was reported by one of the cleaning staff that your room was in a unusual disarray. I believe that someone may have ransacked it searching for something and wanted to inform you. Though it seems I have more to report than I expected. I will have guards stay on a constant escort with Sand so he doesn't repeat the insults."

"Sir Nevalle, you have known me for some time." Sand commented, still ready to cast if the Knight jumped at him but unable to resist making the comment. "What makes you believe my words were lies?"

Sana blinked, waving at Sand in a 'shut up' styled motion. Surprised at both the moon elf's rare playful behavior and what Nevalle had told her. _"-Now- he chooses to fail at being dull."_

"By the gods..." Nevalle blinked in disbelief as he glanced between the pair after the woman's gesture. "Lady Sana...Sand?"

The wizard's lips edged a bit between a frown and a smile at the disgusted tone in Nevalle's voice, a bit insulted but also amused. While Sana's blush hadn't completely faded and was holding steady. "Sir Nevalle, I would appreciate if you could keep this matter between us."

"Sand?!" Nevalle repeated in disbelief, looking between them over and over as if he was holding out that he would wake up or one of them would vanish.

"Nevalle." Sand skipped the formalities of his title much as he often did. A bit smug despite the rude reaction the knight was giving. "If you could close your mouth for a moment and stop gaping like a touched child. Sana was speaking to you."

"Lady Sana...does his Lordship _-know-_ about...this?" He gestured between them with a nauseous grimace at the last word.

"It's not what you think." Sana tried to salvage what little of her honor that she was able. "It's...complicated. Please don't tell King Nasher, he has enough to worry about."

"I...I'll take your word on it." He still seemed shaken, pausing to pick up two texts that had been separated onto a stand table earlier. A secondary reason for his trip by the library. "But...if you are...well whatever you _-are-_ doing with Sand, you should tell his majesty yourself. Please go and look over your quarters however for anything that might be missing. Take Sand if you feel he could possibly discover the identity of the person responsible."

"Thank you Sir Nevalle." Sana nodded, still trying not to show the embarrassment she felt. "I appreciate your digression."

"How generous of you to say." Sand drawled as the knight began to leave the library. "I'd of thought you'd protest me being anywhere near the ladies bed."

The knight sped up his steps a little, shaking his head and apparently trying to run away from what he'd just heard. Sand burst into laughter as soon as the knight vanished and the door closed. Falling into his chair and holding his side as he fought to breath.

"It's -not- funny!" The half vampire exclaimed at him, putting her hands on her hips. She had yet to sit back down. "If he says something to my uncle I'll be lucky if I'm allowed to leave my quarters!"

"You are correct, it's not simply funny, it's priceless." Sand managed between laughter as he wiped at the edges of his eyes. "Did you see him?"

"Yes." Her eye twitched a little. "I couldn't miss him. He thinks I'm a common whore."

"Come now, I never frequent the Moonstone Mask." Sand commented, bursting into more cackles. "The correct term would be loose, in this case."

"I should have let you bleed to death." Sana muttered, closing the text she'd been pursuing before the scene began. Rubbing her temples again. "I am going to my room to see what happened there. When you manage to pull yourself together enough to walk, feel free to come be useful."

She frowned and hurried herself to get free of the library before his sharp tongue could offer anymore barbs to her honor. Though her rush was in part a result of what she feared the person had been searching for. When she found the secret bottom of her vanitys main drawer open and empty it confirmed her fears.

The room had been torn apart in the search by whoever was targeting her. It would take a while just to get all of her things back in order, more or less put together a list of anything that could be missing. Though other than the vials of her needed pseudo blood nothing seemed immediately to be missing. She sighed as she sat on the edge of her unmade bed and looked at the chaos.

_"More than one person is targeting me."_ The thought was sobering to say the least. _"Whoever stole the vials couldn't have been aware that someone else had already tampered with them. Damn, I didn't even get to find out what they'd replaced my usual stash with._

It wasn't much of a comfort to know that this second enemy was going to be left with something other than her usual concoction. _"I wonder if they found my back up."_

She headed toward the walk in closet that had been fairly well emptied onto the floor of her quarters as a much more serious Sand finally joined her. His expression was difficult to read but she was more concerned with the box that had been hidden away in a secret compartment in the back of the closet. Sighing with a bit of relief when she realized the box was still there, drawing it out and murmuring the words that would allow her to open it without the alarm she had on it going off.

The long crimson filled vial was still in it's place in the padded box, making her watch it with a bit of distrust. She couldn't be sure that it hadn't also been tampered with.

"You keep extra in your room?" Sand observed from where he'd moved to the entrance to her large closet, eyeing the disarray that her room had been left in. "I'm not sure I want to know."

"It's an alchemical concoction." She explained. "So I don't have to...use people. I normally am fine with just it, but someone had tampered with the other ones I had. I can't be sure that this wasn't also somehow replaced when my others had been."

"I could look it over." He had to admit the offer was a personality curiosity. Potion making was one of his varied interests after all, he had enough faith in his abilities that even if it wasn't an example of this substitute blood he could figure out what it was.

She glanced over, her hesitation a sign that she was weighing pro's and con's of letting him consider it. On one hand he did already know more than she would have liked, but on the other hand she had planned to find an alchemist capable of brewing her the needed potions considering her move from Waterdeep. It was initially something she had planned to take her time with...but her stash had been unexpectedly depleted and she couldn't even trust that the last vial she did have in her possession was what she needed or more of whatever it was she'd taken accidentally the day prior.

"Well?" The single word a prompt from the wizard. "I could use the break from reading law books for a time. Though you would need to convince your illustrious uncle to let us travel to my shop. I have tools there that I doubt even the palace possesses."

"You are enjoying all of this entirely too much." She commented darkly, handing him the vial in a sign of conceding. "Come on, there's nothing left here that the staff can't get in order. I'll see if the King is too busy to give a short audience."

As bothersome as Malygaurd was for starting this whole fiasco, Sand had to admit that this was the most fascinating day he'd had sense he'd traveled with the Shard Bearer and the rest. Improved from those adventures as it lacked the promise of death that had seemed to stalk him in those days.

Sana hadn't meant to nearly drain him of his life's blood after all, not that the occurrence wasn't a preferable choice to the more painful combat offered by Shadow Reavers of those times. Now that he knew the danger was present he'd settled a carefully worded contingency spell in place on his person. If she were to bite him again his mind would be warded instantly against any form of mental enchantment. It was a powerful protection spell that he'd worked into the magic, once he'd had another day to prepare more fitting spells he wouldn't need to be concerned with her nearly killing him if she lost control again.

He followed her silently toward the audience chamber for the king. Going back over the wording he'd used and nodded in satisfaction that it would cover all possibilities where it involved her wickedly distracting fangs.

He had visited the grand throne room enough during his time with the shard bearer that it had ceased to be impressive countless visits ago, though the whispers of the lingering nobles in the hall about him were a bit amusing. Their fascination with him a sign of just how useless they really were for Neverwinter. Only made worse by the fact that that they seemed equally content to whisper and stare at the woman he was trailing. Didn't they have anything better to do than stand around and gossip?

Correction, the lack of Torio made the throne room far more welcoming than his last visits.

Nasher was offering him glances as he waited away from the throne itself for Sana that signaled him that she had mentioned his name. It was only a few minutes later that he'd been shuffled to a meeting area with more comfortable chairs than the library possessed. He didn't seem happy, but Sand was used to that.

"Sana tells me that you have offered to help her with her special needs in the realm of alchemy." It was a perfectly political way of expressing his adopted nieces heritage. Though he couldn't be sure of all of the details that the half-vampire had told the king.

"I must admit the prospects of such research is intriguing for one such as myself." He thought it best to play along with the act of civility, remaining very artful in his choice of words. No reason to give away more than would be needed.

Nasher was a lot more perceptive than many people believed him, he eyed the bruise on Sand's neck and glanced back to Sana. "We're in a secure area of the building. What happened?"

She seemed to kick herself, noting her uncles realization a moment before the wizard. "My vials were tampered with and I attacked him without meaning to. Whatever they left me to drink it effected my usual hunger in a way that seemed to amplify it. I am fine for the time being but I'll require someone else capable of creating the concoction for me anyway."

Nasher let out the sort of sigh you would expect from a disappointed parent but when he spoke there was a resigned tone to his voice. "Perhaps it is a blessing in the disguise of a tragedy. Sand is one of the best in Neverwinter when it comes to the area of alchemy. We'll require someone to keep an eye on you until we know that whatever was done isn't going to repeat itself."

_"Well, at least he doesn't seem to realize what her drinking really meant." _Sand thought in relief, that was a close dodge of a proverbial bullet. "You want me to babysit her?"

"Keep an eye on her." Nasher corrected the less considerate interpretation. "It is a logical course for the time being as you both should be working together on the case for the trial. I'll give my leave for you to visit your shop to work on these...potions she requires. Do so with as much stealth as possible, you are capable of teleporting there correct?"

"Yes." Sand confirmed, a smug expression on his face covering the deeper amusement the protesting look Sana was offering her uncle was causing.

"Then travel in that way, if someone knocks or comes to your door don't answer it. No one needs to know that this trip has been allowed." Nasher gave orders with the commanding personality that came from years of holding his position. "I'll have your quarters in the palace moved so that you are able to be better protected Sana."

She seemed like she wanted to fight everything that had just happened, but she slowly nodded instead. It wasn't like she could honestly argue, everything he'd said was perfectly logical.

"I should return to court, there will already be rumors started by my short disappearance." He nodded to them, heading out of the room after the statement.

Sana sighed after he left and sank into one of the chairs. "Just marvelous."

"Shall we?" Sand could have mocked her a bit, but he was more interested in looking into the vial that was safely inside one of the many pockets of his robes. He offered his hand as he would be the one casting the spell that would whisk them instantly away to his home.

**End Chapter**

Poor Sana, being babysat by Sand can't be the best thing in the world. (though I could think of much worse fates) I cackle at the situation!

-Aura

To my reviewer: (cause well, there is only one)

_Purple_Crow_ - Not sure if you play the table top version of D&D 3.5 but Half-Vampire was a race template added in the Librus Mortis book (an undead supplement). And well...to quote another game for the PC I really enjoy: 'The cake is a lie'. But I hope you'll keep offering me feedback anyway!


	9. Disregard

**Chapter Nine:** _**Disregard**_

_"The lie has long since lost it's honest function of misrepresenting reality. Nobody believes anybody, everyone is in the know. Lies are told only to convey to someone that one has no need either of him or his good opinion."_

_**-Theodore W. Adorno **_

_"I take it all back."_ Sana thought idly as she leaned back in the comfy chair in the basement of Sand's shop. Hands absently rubbing her feet in a massage after she'd set the book she'd been occasionally reading discarded on a stand table nearby. After days of pursuing various ancient texts and scrolls on law she was starting to tire of all the reading. _"Anything kind I said as to his personality or any deluded comments I made as to him being thought-provoking."_

She was watching him toil away over a bunch of varied liquid solutions and their mixtures and he wasn't offering her a moment's notice. The sun had set at least an hour ago and he had been at this for much longer than she would have thought anyone capable of putting time into potion brewing. Perhaps worse was the fact that he didn't seem as if he planned to pause anytime soon, the lines in his face drawn in such a way that it was easy to see his fasciation with the production.

He hadn't said a word directly to Sana in the whole of that time. Only pausing sometimes to occasionally mutter things like; 'Mmm fascinating.' 'That can't be right.' or 'Ah, that makes sense.' Leaving her feeling thoroughly bored and forgotten in the dusty, tomb-like cellar. There wasn't even a window...which made it easier for them to remain stealthy in their trip...but only seemed to add to her listlessness.

"Are you going to be finished soon?" She didn't want to repeat the question. It was likely only about half an hour sense she'd asked last, but the stuffy cellar was starting to get to her.

Sand didn't even pause, raising a couple glass vials to carefully pour some liquid from one into the other. His tone dry and neutral as he was more concerned with his work. "Patience is a virtue."

"That is running low..." She commented, eyes narrowing a little in annoyance at the moon elf. "We've been down here for hours. I'm bored."

"This is, in part, something that you require sooner rather than later." He shrugged off her complaints. "Besides, I am fairly certain this is the original brew for your needs. Not a bad idea really, some of the ingredients are hard to get ahold of but I know some people that might be able to provide. Others are a bit illegal but there are a few things that I haven't been able to recognize yet. It will still take me some time to discover the exact process as well but it's nothing beyond my capabilities."

"Can't you take a break?" She might as well keep hope alive.

"Restless aren't you?" He observed, pausing a moment to look over the girl. She seemed far more energetic than through most of the day, setting aside the feverish attack she had been fairly muted. "Or is that a result of the hour and your dead half?"

"Don't tempt me to bite you again." She dead-panned, her face tightening at what she considered an insult. "Uncle would be most cross if you happened to disappear."

"That is what is considered an -empty- threat dear girl." He chuckled and returned his eyes to the work of alchemical art in front of him. "I would like to speak to the usual person that you have craft these potions for you sometime. I might be able to wrangle out some of the crafting secrets if I give a fair trade. It would make this move along a little faster."

"Anything to get out of this decrepit crypt for a while." She breathed in relief. "The king doesn't have to know, lets go."

"Here I thought you would be most attuned to living in crypts. Coffins not a part of your curse then?" Sand said in amusement, the way she bristled made it almost too easy. "Aren't you willing to be a little delinquent?"

"You are just as guilty as I am." She huffed, crossing her arms and looking away from him. "Do you want to go or not?"

"I have never been to Waterdeep." He clicked his tongue once at her reaction, considering the offer. As long as the King didn't know he didn't suppose a little extra disregard of the already bent rules would be a problem. "I imagine you won't let me concentrate even if I decided to wait so we might as well."

"Your ears are the only part of you that are pointed." Sana sighed, getting up from her chair. "I think your tongue is forked pretty well even if it's not easily obvious."

"Why is it something that should be an insult comes out like such an compliment from your lips?" He turned her words around on her, eyeing her growing irritation with his own amusement. It was too easy, but horribly entertaining as well. "Shall we then?"

"I know why everyone hates you." She sighed and reached out for his hand, preparing the spell in her mind that would take them back to her hometown, and more specifically a place she would be able to go with less of a chance of a mishap.

Waiting until he grasped her hand to close her eyes and pull the mental image forward, intoning the words that would take them the many leagues away to the city she'd once called home.

_**Meanwhile...**_

"Are you serious?" Malyguard blinked slowly in disbelief of the rumors that had reached his home. "The girl and Sand were being involved? Are you certain?"

The person reporting to him was a fairly nondescript individual. The brown haired, brown eyed average woman had been working as an informant in the palace for the academy's leaders for many years. She had a way of going unnoticed by the people around her and being one of the individuals that people tended to have loose lips around. If she wasn't personally involved most of the gossip worthy events that were witnessed by any of the staff eventually made it back to her.

It wasn't that the archmage didn't have faith in her ability, it was more that anyone would have a desire for the detestable hedge wizard.

"That is what I've heard." She repeated with a respectful nod. "One of the cleaning staff was passing by the library on the upper floor and heard Sir Nevalle yelling at Sand. It was heavily implied during the following conversation that the King's niece and the moon elf had been intimate in some way. Some of the whispers have them as more involved than others but the man that saw it swears that her ladyship was abashed by the information being discovered."

"It is Sand, no wonder she wouldn't want people to know." Malyguard chuckled as new possibilities sprung to mind if the trial didn't go in the way he desired. He leaned back and glanced toward his amphibian sleeping nearby, the familiar apparently less interested in his quest for vengeance than the master.

A frown flickered at his lips at the lazy animal before it then turned into a calculating smile, making the woman across from his seat in the den quite glad she wasn't the target of his devious thoughts. "Find out if he cares about her. What exactly the relationship is between them. That is all Malori."

The maid bowed to him and took her leave from the room, leaving the man to his thoughts, his smile warping into an insidious grin. He reached over to nudge his toad awake, speaking to the creature with a dark glee. "Perhaps I've been to generous when I considered the way in which to punish Sand. What better way for him to repent his sins than to take away something from him that he holds dear?"

_**Moving back to the unknowing pair of casters...**_

There are times where regardless of any other feelings one may have, they become distracted by the various beauty in the world. As the electric feeling of the teleportation magic faded from them and they appeared in one of the finer parks of the city of Waterdeep Sand found himself taken aback for a short moment at the exotic elegance of the woman with him.

The temperature was much the same despite the location being far more south on Faerun than Neverwinter, however the volcano that ran below the city where they'd just left was part of the reason for it's warmth. It was actually a bit cooler, which was somewhat ironic. The sky was surprisingly clear thanks to the lack of light's in the park at the late hour, lit instead by the half moon and the stars.

Sana's white skin almost seemed to let off a gentle glow in the pale, silvery illumination offered by the heavens. The silver of her eyes glinting like a cats would as her vision adjusted to the much darker area. Her dark hair seemed almost to flow from the night itself, blending with the shadows around them and adding to her otherworldly allure.

She was glancing about as if trying to place herself and then looked down bashfully when she noticed his staring. Her voice deceptively gentle when it chose. "Um...I think we need to go to the north from here."

_"Perhaps I can understand why people are so captivated by vampires, there is something exhilarating about seeing her in the starlight."_ It wasn't until she spoke that he realized that he had been staring at her so intently. Looking away himself as he mirrored her act of trying to navigate...though he hadn't been to Waterdeep previously he could figure out with way was north by the stars. "North would be through that gate and to the left."

He gestured to the gate he was speaking about, keeping his thoughts to himself, a little disturbed at the way something so simple had rendered him a gawking adolescent for even a moment. _"Get yourself together Sand. You aren't some hormonal boy."_

"I've never met a more confusing man." Sana sighed to herself as she began toward the gate where he gestured. _"He's so biting at times with that sharp tongue of his...but then he stares at me like that...with those dazzling cerulean eyes. How can someone be so scintillating and bewildering at the same time?_

"You seem to have a fondness for nature." Sand observed as they walked, letting her lead the way once he'd narrowed down north for her, falling into a easy pace with her as he made small conversation.

"It's nice to just get away sometimes." Sana admitted, happy to talk about something as opposed to silence that promised to be awkward. "I can just relax when I visit a park or a garden. Trees and flowers are beautiful without needing to worry about what they might think of you."

"Do appearances concern you that deeply?" He was more curious than he cared to admit about the girl, though he reasoned that meeting such a unique creature wasn't something he commonly did either.

"They sort of have to." She replied with a shrug, walking with him toward a shop district that still appeared to have at least a basic clientele despite the late hour. "My position and who my parents were force me to be worried about what people know about me and how they view me. I don't get the chance to have a normal life."

"Conventual life is overrated." He observed. "Not that I don't enjoy a bit of a routine, but adventuring was rousing as well putting aside all the near death experiences. There are many people that would jump to have a chance at the position you were adopted into."

"If they wanted to take curse that follows me, I would gladly hand it over to them." Sana replied with a smirk. "Being a part of the nobility has likely made my obsession with how I'm seen far worse."

"Have you pursued any sort of polymorph or other spells that might be able to give you a permanent change of form?" He was as much offering a suggestion as he was asking a question.

"It doesn't matter." She shook her head, explaining as she paused to consider the streets and took a turn down a smaller side road. "If I do use such magic it never lasts more than a day. Useful if someone thought to turn it against me I suppose but it can't offer me any help either."

"Hmm...I see." He commented, considering her reply. _"Must be a part of her given by her mother. Vampires are suppose to be immune to anyone else changing their form. Lord knows I learned that one the hard way during one of the attacks on Crossroad Keep." That was a waste of a spell._

"This is it. I'd rather not be seen if you don't mind. I don't want anything getting back to my uncle. The shopkeeper knows me, but I'm sure you'll be able to manage on your own." She nodded toward a general building. Stepping to one side of it to wait for him with a sly smile.

He was too curious about the formula for the makeshift blood to care that she was ditching him, moving into the building without hesitation. It looked more like a house than a store - but Sand could hardly judge that combination. Though it was far less expensive than his building and there was a lot of dust built up on the floor and shelves. It smelled like a wide mixture of herbs, though he was used to that, his own basement didn't have an aroma much different.

The dark elf that was settled behind the counter promised that this wouldn't be an average interaction at all. He had dealt with the drow on rare occasion and each time it had left a bitter taste in his mouth. He would have to speak to Sana about being a little more open with important details about people she dealt with in the future.

**End Chapter**

My drive is dying down compared to what it was when I began this fiction, though I do plan to keep writing! I figure I wrote most of the 20000+ words thus far in less than a weeks time. My free time began to die off so I can't quite keep up with the way things were when I began. I'd still like feedback (like any author), thanks for reading.

-Aura

To my reviewers:

V7 - A horrible broken wreck? Unlikely, it was more sarcasm. Eventually a lack of feedback tends to have me lose interest. I simply enjoy writing for Sand enough to have kept going regardless of the lack of comments I've gotten. Neeshka -isn't- a total idiot...she's just exceptionally direct. I am going to leave Khelgar as a fighter because his quest in the game to become a monk seemed like a passing interest once he'd gotten the relics of his clan. At least to me. In this case it's a OC(Original Character) not a KC(Knight Captain), why people made the difference as all KC's are OC's after all, I'm not sure. Just a way to separate a character that was involved with the main plot of the game to one that wasn't I suppose. I have yet to decide how/if I'm going to involve Elanee, though she wouldn't be so un-subtle to come in with an army of elementals at her heels. However amusing the mental image the thought inspires. I'm glad you think I manage well enough with Sand though, being he's the lead character of sorts after all.

Purple Crow - Yes, you could say you inspired me to stretch my thoughts. At least as far as this fiction was concerned. I'm glad you liked the Nasher/Sand scene, I had a lot of fun with that particular part. Um, Malygaurd's toad is part snake? croc? -inserts teardrop- My bad. And the sense/since thing is always something I seem to have an issue with. Hope you continue to enjoy updates :).


	10. Representations

**Chapter Ten:** _**Representations**_

_"Honesty has a beautiful and refreshing simplicity about it. No ulterior motives. No hidden meanings. An absence of hypocrisy, duplicity, political games, and verbal superficiality. As honesty and real integrity characterize our lives, there will be no need to manipulate others."_

_**-Chuck Swindoll**_

The dark skin of the drow remained a representation of their black hearts, or that remained the opinion of the moon elf moving into the humble herbalist shop. The man that turned toward him was a rarity, given the less than kind treatment males received in drow society. Though the pure obsidian orbs that had replaced his eyes were a sign that he hadn't escaped torture even if he had escaped the wretched females of his evil race. Something about the replacements to his once eyes must have offered him some form of vision cause he was able to follow Sand as he moved across the small room.

"I don't get day walkers too often." His voice was harsh and raspy with the observation, as if it were painful for him to form words. The lack of blinking the voids of his gaze offered was a bit unnerving. "A woman's scent clings to you."

"I come on another's behalf." Sand thought a version of the truth often made the best subterfuge. "I seek a formula that is fairly unique in it's background."

"Blood Elixir." The fellow commented, sitting back. He was a little chubby for a drow or elf in general, apparently his life in Waterdeep had allowed him to eat well. Ivory hair was pulled out of his face into a haphazard ponytail, considering that it was done by a mostly blind man it looked well enough, bangs that hadn't been captured fell across his face and cheeks. He was 'looking' at Sand but the wizard had the idea there was a lot more to the gem like 'eyes' the drow possessed than he would care for. "You are a caster, you even smell like an herbalist...why should I help you?"

"I thought I entered a place of _-business-_." Sand replied with his usual slow pace. Eyes turning to the potions offered along the shelves nearest him. "Do you not barter that which you possess?"

"Some things carry a heavy price, you already stated that which you chase is unique. It is not a concoction whose recipe I am willing to part with easily." Given his raspy tone, it was likely that he'd suffered injuries to his vocal chords as well.

"It is only a matter of time before I discover how it works regardless." Sand shrugged. "It seemed kinder to offer such a entrepreneur some sort of deal for the original. Always good to nurture those that are still young to the field."

"Perhaps not as young as you would presume." The other man laughed, it coming out closer to a sickly cough than a chuckle. "But this doesn't seem like something that you plan to be making a fair profit on even if I do give you the regular creation. How is the Lady Sana?"

Sand paused, the question was unexpected, though this fellow seemed irritatingly observant. _"Perhaps akin to the boy from Ember...a seer of some level..."_

"Have I stolen that sharp tongue for a moment?" the drow's smirk was almost as annoying as his tendency to guess correctly. "You still have her scent on you. Hers is one that is difficult to either forget or mistake for any other. A rare creature...the reason for your visit has something to do with her relocation to Neverwinter. I gave her enough of the recent batch to last for months."

"There was an unfortunate incident." Sand admitted, albeit he didn't like being on the worse end of a bargaining chip he seemed to have little choice. "Though that brings us back to the matter of price."

"Straight to the point...I imagine as this is for Lady Sana I could let you have a copy of the recipe, if you'll offer me a sample that is." He made a general gesture toward the moon elf.

Sand let an eyebrow raise. "A sample?"

When the drow smiled the moon elf realized for the first time the fangs that glinted behind the dark elves lips. It was a vampire to which he was speaking, and not the partially blooded variety.

"I prefer to keep my blood where it is." Sand dead-panned at the request. "I believe gold will have to suffice."

The man let out that partial cough/cackle that he had the last time. "Pity, if she was tempted by it I suppose it is quite the delicacy."

"What do you mean?" He had to admit he was curious. Even if he didn't trust the creature, he knew precious little of the intricacies of vampiric feeding and was curious if there was some other reason behind Sana's attack.

"There are those that simply taste better than others. Nobles tend to have a much better taste than rabble. Much like pigs or chicken raised for the consumption of people, those animals with better care make better meat for the table." The straight face he had while explaining it reminded Sand why he didn't mind blowing the vampires to bits that he had come across during his adventuring. "Despite that, there is the rare individual that is born with something that makes them a particular delicacy regardless of whatever background they have. Such temptation is hard for even the most disciplined vampire to resist."

"I doubt that is the case." Sand replied. "How much?"

"Forty Thousand Gold." The man leaned back in his chair. "or that sample..."

"Done." Sand agreed, interrupting the drow as he reached toward his purse, a bag of holding he'd acquired recently. The shocked reply the dark elf offered was enough to make the high price worth it. He still had a fair amount of cash left over from his adventuring days, it wasn't like he had much to spend it on. Avoiding a tempted vampire wanting to feed on his blood for the second time in far too short a period made the purchase worth it.

After a long period of counting and re-counting he attained the copy of the recipe and read it over, experienced eyes looking for lies as much as scanning for how well he thought the recipe was put together. If there were going to be any lies now was the time to find them...

"Actual blood...no wonder I didn't recognize it." Sand thought darkly at one of the ingredients he'd missed. _"Augmented with bloodvine...not a common component but not illegal. A good plan for the most part but areas could be improved...it's something I can use at least in the time being before I develop my own improvements."_

They exchanged a basic polite goodbye and Sand was glad to be free of the shop again, heading away and glancing down the ally where Sana was suppose to be waiting. She was easy to see, her skin still seeming to almost glow in the moonlight and drawing his gaze. Her eyes were closed, enjoying a gentle wind that was passing her, she seemed serene.

It was difficult to interrupt her from the calm state but he had already chided himself for staring earlier and didn't plan to repeat the process. "I've attained the needed recipe."

Mismatched eyes opened and she smiled at him, glancing back up toward the stars. "Good, I suppose we should head back to that dungeon you call a basement then."

"Positively dripping with eagerness." He replied drolly, gesturing to the street. "We could walk for a bit if you would like, I wouldn't want to torture you too much with my dull nature."

She blushed a bit, it was always so easily obvious when she did. Nodding a little at the unexpected invitation. "Yes, though I suppose we shouldn't linger long regardless. I wouldn't know what to say if Uncle send Nevalle to check on us and we weren't there."

"If Nevalle tried to break into my shop you would be the least of his worries." Sand commented easily, considering the various spells and wards that protected his store. If anyone survived the aggressive spells the summoning spells he'd worked in after his return from adventuring would leave the docks swimming in enough demons that people would believe the hells were invading.

"I'm pretty sure I hope that never happens." Sana replied, eyeing the somewhat evil grin that had crept over his lips as he considered it. "Either way, I suppose lingering too long would make me feel bad anyway."

She was drifting along, walking in such a way that many of the streets they wandered didn't seem to possess others to interrupt them. Likely she was used to the need to avoid the sight of others. "Your conscience didn't stop you from coming."

"I was bored into the point of mental numbness." She countered with a smirk of her own, pushing a few strands of her hair behind an ear absently. "Don't you ever like just getting out and taking a walk?"

"When there aren't other, more interesting, things for me to pursue I suppose an occasional stroll is healthy for me." He returned. "It seems to do far more for you than I. Though I guess the hour could have something to do with that."

"I'm not completely about who my parents were." She frowned a little at him but then covered it with her courtly face. "I just enjoy walking sometimes, helps me gather my thoughts and relax. It doesn't matter what time it is."

_"She is sensitive about that...probably something I shouldn't forget."_ Sand pondered to himself. _"I wonder if she even realizes how beautiful she is." Not that it matters really, she'd be safer without various admirers._

"I guess we should go back." She accented, it hadn't been a long walk but mention of her vampiric blood seemed to have sobered her attitude. "I'd rather not find out what all you have set to defend your business if anyone comes looking."

"You are lucky I tend to prepare teleport spells more than a single time." He commented, holding his hand out toward her. She blushed a bit before taking his hand, giving him a moment of pause before he cleared his mind of distractions and began to chant the words that would take them back to his shop again. Teleportation was the quickest way to travel but allowing oneself to think about anything other than the destination could prove dangerous or possibly fatal. There were ways to avoid such side effects but it was a much more powerful magic. Slots of his power he normally reserved for more deadly replies should he be touched. _"I'll have to begin to prepare the safer teleportation spells. I'd rather not end up in the middle of nowhere on a miscast._

Though Sand had a strong will and they appeared without incident in his workshop yet again. He glanced at her bashful attitude when he dropped her hand, she wasn't quite as surreal without the moonlight to reflect from her pale skin, but she was still quite the stunning creature. _"Not a bad mind for a natural either. I might have the luxury of considering more if it wasn't for her position._

Whatever attraction that might have existed Sand wasn't about to putny effort toward exploring that, his self preservation meant more to him than whatever passing fancy a female could offer. It had been quite some time before he'd bothered with such a relationship but it seemed unwise to start back up such indulgences with the King's niece.

"I have a guest room upstairs if you are still too bored to stay down here." He offered, it was as a kind a offer as he ever gave, no one had stayed in that room sense he'd moved in. He wasn't sure sometimes why he'd bothered to put the furniture inside. "It's likely a little dusty but I'm sure a simple prestidigitation or two should make it passable for you."

"You want me to go to bed?" She raised a brow. "Shouldn't we return to the palace?"

"I have neither the spells left nor the desire to keep risking miscasts by teleporting so often." Sand answered honestly, moving over to the station he'd been using before to fiddle with this new project. "As I still require time to work with this I figured it would be more prudent to offer you a place to rest as opposed to allowing you to pester me and make the whole process slower."

"You..." she shook her head as she just headed toward the steps. "...are just unbelievable sometimes. Good luck with your research you obsessive."

He smiled a bit at her comments, despite the danger of baiting Nasher's niece he had to admit it was cute to watch her get ruffled at his words. Just looking wasn't too much of a risk after all...

After she left he got to turn back to the fascinating work at hand. He had wanted her out of the room for the experimentations as well. If she wasn't aware actual blood went into the substitute elixirs, even in tiny doses, he didn't want to be the one to break it to her. Though he also didn't want her there when he used a few drops of his, a little concerned she might attack him again.

Sana meanwhile was frowning at the dust covered room where he'd sent her. _"Are you serious Sand? I think this place would need a few gust of wind spells as opposed to a couple minor cantrips. There is no way I'd sleep in there."_

She closed the door and frowned to herself. It was late and despite her half-vampire blood she often kept hours during the day that left her tired as it was nearing early morning. She passed by his room, which was much more meticulously clean. _"Likely the work of an unseen servant or two...hmm...screw it. I'm tired and he'll probably be busy until I'm done with reverie anyway."_

She drifted inside, eyeing the king sized bed and smiling softly to herself, she whispered aloud to break the silence. "For all your talk of disliking the nobility, you sure like to live rich."

She sat on the edge of the bed, it wouldn't be comfortable sleeping in her robes but she wasn't willing to undress while invading the moon elves sheets either. Reaching down to remove her shoes and set them on the floor before reaching up to pull down the comforter and sheets. _ "A full set of silk sheets? Hell, make that living better than most nobles, even as royalty the only silk I ever traded for was a single dress and a handkerchief or two over my lifetime. I heard adventurers tend to live large but it's surprising for certain._

The smooth soft fabric felt cool and comfortable under her hands and on her feet and while laying naked would likely be an experience it was one she was more than willing to pass up in Sand's home. _"I've already had enough mistakes there. I don't think I'd survive if he caught me naked anywhere. The very idea gives me faith that people are capable of dieing from embarrassment."_

The bed smelled like him, a mixture of herbs so various no single one took the forefront along with a deeper masculine scent. It left her with flashes of memory; him reaching for her hand, holding her up in the gardens and asking if she was okay, the elegant gourmet that was him. Perhaps all the years of working with potions had left him with a seasoned taste, he was certainly a rare flavor. That brought her to force the run of thoughts to a screeching halt.

_Okay Sana, Sand smells good, stop thinking about indulging yourself with his blood. You are better than this. You've gotten past the age of having random crushes on people, he's two times your age for gods sake!"" _She pressed the cool pillow against her face to try to ward off the warmth in her cheeks.

She didn't get the chance to think about it for too long, her body exhausted enough that she was lulled to rest before long. Her subconscious left to torture her while she was unconscious as opposed to awake.

**End Chapter**

Whee. This chapter took a little while. I was playing (finally) MotB for NWN2. I still dunno what I think of the first expansion. It was fairly predictable...but maybe because I am a great fan of the forgotten realms and saw parts coming. I need to play it again anyway, missed stuff.

-Aura

P.S. Glad to see I've gotten some more readers - at least according to hits and such. Hope you keep liking it. Reviews are the awesome; but the cake is a lie.


	11. Sleepy Challenges

**Chapter Eleven:** _**Sleepy Challenges**_

_Drunkenness is a joy reserved for the Gods: so do men partake of it impiously, and so are they very properly punished for their audacity. _

_**-Cabell, James Branch**_

A dreadful pounding is what began to tug Sand's consciousness back from the thick comfort of reverie. He had stayed up until the afternoon fiddling with various ways and ideas in regards to the blood substitute that Sana would need. He'd finished at least a single vial before he was willing to rest and given his poor sleep schedule as of late he wasn't paying much attention when he'd crawled into his bed to pass out.

His room was enchanted to stay dark unless he otherwise willed it, he hadn't even noticed the slumbering elven vampiress while he undressed and slipped in on the other side of the king-sized bed. He couldn't have been resting for a long period and the pounding coming from his door gave him the fleeting desire to set off some of his summoning defenses. Instead he also slowly came to realize that his bed was much warmer than he was used to.

Sana was settled against his chest, at some point both of them had migrated toward the other and they'd been inexplicably left next to one another. She didn't even seem to budge despite the noise being raised. _"Guess that answers the question as to if she sleeps as much as a normal elf...she went to bed at least two hours before I came up here...what the hell is she doing in my bed anyway?"_

"Sand you wretch!" Nevalle's voice was the last thing he wanted to hear in the morning. It always heralded bad news. "If you are in there you'd better answer me before we bust down your doors."

As tempting as it was to let the Knight roast himself or his guards the wizard knew it was unwise to allow it to happen. He tugged himself free of the vampire, that seemed equally content to hug his pillow in his absence, he smirked a bit and squinted his eyes as he opened his window, he normally cared more for his physical appearance but it seemed a bad plan to take the time to put anything on. "What in the nine hells do you want?"

"Where is the Lady Sana?" Nevalle seemed livid indeed, his form was rigid and he had a slight twitch in his lip, a contrast to his otherwise controlled and angry face. "What the hell are you still doing here Sand?"

"She's sleeping in the guest room." Sand replied, it wasn't a complete lie, if you took out the guest part. "Pursuit of specific needs for my latest recipe lasted longer than originally expected. This is hardly subtle..."

_"What exactly was the point of asking me to be sneaky if they were going to do this?"_ He thought in irritation.

"Somehow Malyguard discovered that you weren't at the palace, when morning and then noon came and we couldn't produce you it was only a matter of time. You and Lady Sana both face charges of attempting to evade arrest." Nevalle said, Sand idly wondered if a vein in his brain would burst soon. It would be vaguely nice if it did, then he could return to his rest.

"Can't you return later. I'm tired Nevalle and as much as I adore playing along with this song and dance if I don't get some rest you'll find my good nature will quickly wane." Sand frowned, he was exhausted and simply sick of the whole thing. If the desire struck him he could likely do major damage to the city.

"Sand...you cannot...."

"I challenge Malygaurd to the trial by combat." Sand interrupted, he was irritated and it wasn't common for him to jump into action but as it seemed it would end up there anyway, he might as well push the process forward. "For his insults to my honor and his lies in the city of Tyr's justice may he choose to face me or face the swift judgment of the heavens."

Nevalle blinked, though to his credit he didn't let his mouth hang open that long, he shut it nicely while Sand was still evoking the old law that would temporarily clear him of all charges. "Now get your shiny soldiers off my lawn and stop pounding on my door."

He closed his window a little more roughly than he'd planned, surprised it didn't wake Sana. Then he moved back toward his bed, he didn't even care that Sana was still tangled in his sheets, that was a bridge he'd burn when he crossed it. He was far too tired to deal with any of the issues at the moment. Sleep now, kick the vampire out his bed and kill his enemies later...

Below him Nevalle sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Mi'lord?" one of the soldiers seemed uncertain as to how to proceed.

"There is nothing else we can do here." Nevalle confirmed, motioning them away from Sand's business. "I hope the fool know what he's doing."

"What of Lady Sana? She shouldn't be staying in such poor conditions." She'd definitely become a popular member of the nobility among his troops.

"If she is already sleeping then we will let her sleep." Nevalle answered with a small shrug, still disturbed of the idea of Sana staying with Sand but at least he had a guest room and hadn't just given her a couch. "Sand's home is well taken care of. I doubt if she was wanting for anything she would have remained here."

That seemed to placate them and Nevalle stepped over to one of the members of the troop that was a good runner. "I need you to go and inform the Archmage Malyguard that he has been challenged to the trial by combat and to have a response for that challenge by the noon after tomorrow."

A salute later the soldier was running off to follow orders and Nevalle sighed as he gestured his company away from the home again. "Come on, there is much else that needs to be done."

_**Elsewhere not long after...**_

"Trial by combat...that irritable self-important fool." Creston was grumbling as he considered the ramifications of battling Sand. He had defeated his daughter and Qara had been in no way weak. No, the elf would have too much up those wide sleeves of his to take such a risk...

There was no one else in his office save the toad that functioned as his familiar. The beast seeming to yawn from it's place on his desk.

"I know." He commented idly, leaning back in his chair and pushing his hands through his hair, smoothing it down. "I didn't expect he would return my finding him free of the palace with this much of an escalation in reply."

The toad looked away from it's master and stretched a leg.

"Perhaps not." He seemed to be agreeing with whatever his pet was communicating to him. "I need to buy myself more time. If he has the chance to prepare correctly he has many more years of practice than I."

More years than he'd been alive Creston knew, it made him logically wary of the elf as he considered other options. His toad hopped into his lap, making him start but then relax, petting the rough green skin.

"Hmm, that isn't a bad idea. Though I doubt the spells would work on her, she isn't an average human." He commented as he trailed his fingers over the toad quietly. "Perhaps if we can catch her away from the elf though we can speak to her more directly. If they are as the rumors say a few well placed words might get her worried enough to volunteer."

His conversation was cut short as there was a knock on the door, the academy too busy for him to have much time to himself.

_**Back at Sand's Shop...**_

It was warmer than Sana was used too when she slept. She wasn't completely devoid of warmth but she was cooler than your average humanoid thanks to her half-vampire heritage. She had gravitated unconsciously to where Sand had been a second time when he had returned to rest. Even if there was plenty of room on the bed otherwise the heat had lured her right over.

The aroma of Sand surrounded her, changed from when she'd first lay down to a thicker musk. A deeply spiced coffee with the edge of bittersweet copper, it was as intoxicating a scent as she had ever experienced from anything else. The tables of kings had never known the rich incense Sand's skin bestowed her.

His skin was nearly as smooth as the silk sheets around him, it was pliant beneath her searching fingers as they traced the muscles and lines of him. He was no grand warrior but neither did his figure fail to please. His chest moving slowly up and down in the elf version of sleep as she traced his ribs unconsciously. Her body inching closer to his as the scent curled deeper into her foggy senses.

For better or worse a part of her would always hunger and he was as close to a sinful desert she would every truly partake of. Yet, for a true chocoholic the richest taste never functioned as anything more than an appetizer to prepare the taste buds for something more. She kissed his arm, the taste of salt and other spices spreading from her lips to her tongue as she trailed her lips upward along his bicep and over his shoulder.

Her attention to his body wasn't going unnoticed, it was a much more enjoyable way to wake than how he had been interrupted earlier. Still to groggy to realize the full possible consequences of the particular woman and her velvet lips that were enticing him away from reverie. Mind drug between her electrically charged kisses moving toward his ear and the cool feel of her fingers teasing his stomach on their way toward his hips.

Then she was gone, vanished instantly in result to the spell that he'd prepared to hold her off should she try to bite again. The moment that her fangs had touched his skin, before she'd even been able to push to offer the smallest scrape the contingency had activated and she had been whisked away to her own bedroom as a result of the teleport without error that had been worked into the casting to go off should she bite him again.

Sand took a deeper breath as he realized what happened, trying to steady the uneven breathing his treacherous body had taken on as a result of her attention. _"This woman is more dangerous than the various demons of any hell I've come across. If she doesn't have some succubus blood somewhere in her history I'd be amazingly shocked."_

Sana meanwhile was left in a much less comfortable place, the spell had gone off in such a way that she'd appeared a few feet above her floor and fell unceremoniously to her carpet. It was just as good as being doused with ice water, her fangs retracting as she pushed herself up to look around the familiar signs of her bedroom at the palace.

"It's a good thing you are so damn clever after all." She muttered aloud, adding up what happened and the comments that Sand had mentioned about not being worried about her biting him anymore. "No creature should have a right to be like him."

She could still feel the warm smoothness of her skin under her fingers, the overpowering delicacy of his scent, his taste...even if it was fading the hunger that was burning through her wasn't wholly a want for blood. Everything about the elf had drawn her in, taken her away to a place where she'd begun to feed without even being conscious of her actions. She knew she'd never done that before.

If he hadn't had that spell to defend himself she couldn't say for sure that she wouldn't have drained him completely. "Guess with a sharp tongue like his he had to be one step ahead over the years or he wouldn't still be here."

She covered her face with her hands as she really had a chance to think about it. Her cheeks beginning to flush as all of her actions caught up to her. "He'll never let me live it down."

Back at his shop Sand was considering to himself the events of how he'd been woken up, much improved from Nevalle. "Next time a Hold Person I think instead of Teleport. She's quite a seducer for as innocent as she pretends to be."

From the floor Jaral meowed up at him and he pushed himself to a sitting position on the edge of the bed.

"No one asked you." He commented to the cat's implication that he'd been enjoying the attention she'd lavished him with.

He had been but he wouldn't admit it out loud, he was slightly annoyed at his own spell. For a moment there the idea of the sensation of her feeding was enough to make him unconcerned for his own well being.

"Hmm, no, I think I should stick with Teleport." He commented at his own thoughts, his body was weaker than his mind. "No more sharing my bed with a vampire so all that's left is to study and kill my enemies."

The cat meowed louder as he curled his back against Sand's bare leg, tickling him.

He rolled his eyes at the feline before getting to his feet. "Yes, I'll feed you first."

**End Chapter**

I wanted to get some more words in but this seemed too good a point to pause things for the chapter. Contingency spells are so darned awesome! I luvs them.

_-Aura_

P.S. Hope my readers continue to enjoy my madness.


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